


It's Been a Long Time

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Bittersweet, F/M, Flashbacks, Friendship, Green Arrow - Freeform, Guilt, High School, Murder confessions, Non-Linear Narrative, Ollie likes to cook, Protective Lois Lane, Red Kryptonite, Reporter Chloe Sullivan, Reporter Lois Lane, Secret Identities, Shovel talks, Superman - Freeform, Teen Pregnancy, Vigilante Justice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:15:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 49,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24099448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: A surprise phone call brings Chloe and Oliver back together after nearly twenty years of separation.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Lois Lane, Lois Lane/Clark Kent, Oliver Queen & Mia Dearden, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Chloe glanced at the elevator buttons and watched as it reached the seventh floor, she made her way out to the hall and wasn't surprised to hear how loud the Planet already was. It was past ten and most people were there already. She walked down the hall and into her office. Up until a couple of months ago she'd been sharing an office with Richard White, her former partner, but with her latest pulitzer now sitting on a shelf behind her desk, she'd been promoted to Senior Investigative Reporter, a step closer to the copy editor position she'd had her eye on for a while. But that would come soon enough.

For now, she was on a deadline.

She dropped her coat and purse over her chair and picked up the venti triple mochas from her desk once more before making her way down the hall again and just as she was about to turn into the office, she felt a strong wind hitting her and smirked, "morning, Clark." She mumbled before walking up to the desk her cousin shared with her fiance, and setting one of the mochas in front of her, "did you finish it?" She asked.

"Did you really doubt I would?" Lois looked up and smiled at her cousin. "Thank you for this." She picked up the mocha and took a drink.

"No and you're welcome," Chloe told her, smiling back and walking around her desk to see her screen, "so what is Clark going after this time?"

"Beats me," she responded with a shrug. "Mugger? Hostages? Who knows?"

"Never a dull moment," she nodded, "I have a meeting with Perry in ten, email it to me when you're done?"

"Already did," Lois informed her with a wink. 

"You're awesome," Chloe grinned, starting toward the door, "lunch today?" She asked, pausing and turning to face her cousin again.

"Absolutely. Thai?" she asked hopefully.

"Sounds good to me, I'll see you later," she told Lois then started back to her office. Just as she made her way back into her office, she sipped on her mocha and paused when she heard her cellphone ringing. It took her a moment to fish it out of her purse, but she managed, "Chloe Sullivan," she answered when she didn't recognize the number.

"Is this...is this Chloe Sullivan?" a female voice asked, uncertain.

"Yes," Chloe frowned, "who is this?"

She paused for a long moment. "My name is Alice," she answered.

Stilling completely, Chloe held her breath. She walked up to the door and closed it, her heart beating fast. It could be any Alice. But only one came to mind, "how can I help you, Alice?" She asked, doing her best to keep her voice calm.

"I was hoping that we could meet, face to face? I'm in Metropolis, at a coffee shop down the block from the Planet."

Chloe's eyes widened and her stomach dropped. Swallowing hard, she nodded slightly, "I'll be there in a couple of minutes." She promised.

"Okay, great. Thanks." The other woman sounded equally as nervous.

"I'll see you soon," Chloe told her before hanging up. Her hands were shaking and her eyes were warm, she most definitely could not go out there looking like this, but she had no idea how she was going to pull herself together enough for this.

* * *

It took Chloe a few minutes to pull herself together enough to give Perry a call and let he know she had an emergency and was going to miss the meeting. Considering that never happened, she wasn't too worry about it, besides, she couldn't bring herself to even focus on that right now. Not when _she_ was waiting for her outside.

With her heart pounding against her chest, she made her way out of the Planet and around the corner, scanning the people sitting outside for a moment. When she didn't see her, she pulled the door open and stilled. Alice was sitting in the back corner of the shop and although Chloe hadn't seen her in so long, she recognized her instantly. The last thing she wanted was to scare her, however, so she pretended to scan the crowd before making her way toward her.

Alice sat with a cup of coffee in front of her, her hands folded together nervously on the table, brown eyes widening just a little as she looked up, spotting Chloe. She held her breath for a moment as the older woman approached her.

"Alice?" She said quietly, wishing the girl had chosen to sit outside so she could have kept her sunglasses on.

"Hi." She swallowed hard and rose to her feet.

"Hi," Chloe said quietly, keeping her eyes on her face for a full moment, her expression softening, "you're beautiful."

Alice's eyes widened at that and she stared at Chloe. "You know who I am?"

Chloe stilled at that and nodded slightly, looking down for a moment then back at her, "I... guessed. When you said your name over the phone." She said quietly.

"Oh." She wasn't sure how to respond to that--it hadn't been what she'd been expecting. Far from it.

"Sorry," Chloe whispered to her, "I wasn't expecting this." She said quietly, even though she'd been really hoping for it.

"Me either," she admitted, watching Chloe for a moment.

She looked at her for a moment longer too, her chest tight. She couldn't imagine how nervous she must be, "we should sit," Chloe suggested quietly.

Nodding, Alice slowly sat back down in the booth she'd been seated in before Chloe had shown up.

Chloe sat opposite to her and took a deep breath, "you weren't expecting to come?" She asked.

"I wasn't expecting you to know who I was," Alice confessed.

"It's not hard to tell by looking at you," she admitted, eyes on the girl's face once more. Besides, she had known exactly what date had been a month ago. She'd been waiting for this since.

She was silent for a moment, studying Chloe. "I didn't think it would be this easy to find you."

"How did you find me?" Chloe asked, her chest tight.

"My mom, uh...she told me your name."

Chloe arched her eyebrows, eyes a little wide in surprise, "she did?"

Alice nodded a little, leaning back in the booth. "I've always known that I wasn't...I mean it was obvious."

Her chest tightened a little and Chloe nodded slightly, "when did they tell you?"

"When I was ten," she admitted, picking up her coffee and taking a drink.

Chloe smiled a little when she realized she was drinking coffee and looked down then back at her, "was it hard on you?"

"Like I said, I always knew," she repeated, taking another sip. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Yeah," Chloe took a deep breath and turned to look for a waitress, "do you need a refill?"

"Yeah, that'd be good." She nodded quickly.

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded and ordered herself a triple shot latte with a shot of caramel this time then added, "and she will have a refill," she said to the waitress, smiling at her before turning back to Alice.

Alice's eyes were wide as she stared at Chloe. "That's...the same thing I'm having."

Chloe paused at that and blinked a couple of times, "it is?"

She nodded just slightly.

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded too. "What made you decide to come?"

Alice hesitated for a moment, glanced down at her coffee when the waitress set it down in front of her. "My dad died a few months ago. Uh, my adoptive dad, I mean."

Chloe had known about that, of course, but did her best to look surprised not to startle the girl anymore than she already had, "I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Me too. He was a good man." The younger woman was silent for a moment.

"Did you two get along, then?" She asked quietly, her chest even tighter now.

Alice nodded silently, staring down at her coffee.

"And you and your-- mom?" She hadn't touched her own coffee yet, she hadn't been able to take her eyes off her yet.

She smiled faintly. "We get along, too. But she understands why I needed to meet you."

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded slightly, "I always hoped you would want to," she admitted, doing her best to keep her emotions together.

Alice was silent for a moment. "I want to meet him, too," she admitted, her voice very soft.

It was Chloe's turn to look down at that and she nodded slightly, "I'm sure he will want to meet you," she whispered, her voice wavering a little.

She sipped her coffee, hesitating. "Are the two of you...I mean, are you still in touch?"

Chloe bought herself some time before answering that question by taking a long sip of her coffee, "not in a long time," she said quietly. A little less than nineteen years, to be exactly.

"Oh," she said softly, looking down at her drink once more.

"But you have no way of contacting him, do you?" She asked the girl, she knew exactly what had been on those papers.

"I don't even know his name," she confessed.

"I know," Chloe breathed, "I can let him know, if you want me to."

"Really?" Alice asked hopefully.

"Yeah," she took another deep breath and nodded, "yeah, like I said, I'm sure he would want to meet you."

"I know seeing me here must...be a shock."

"Yes and no," Chloe said quietly, "I knew you would have the option to get the information once you turned eighteen," she whispered, "and like I said, I was hoping you would want to."

Alice chewed on her lower lip for a moment, setting her mug down. "Really?" she whispered hopefully.

Her eyes teared up slightly and she nodded, "yeah," she whispered, "I wanted to be able to explain things to you and-- get to know you."

Her own eyes watered a little, but she blinked back the tears. "I'd really like that."

Chloe's face softened and she managed a smile then took a deep breath, "thank you."

"You don't have to thank me," Alice said softly.

"I do," she nodded slightly, "for giving me a chance."


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe didn't make it back to the Planet after coffee, she and Alice had talked for a little longer, but the girl was in Metropolis for a tour of MetU, so she had to leave. Once she was by herself, Chloe crossed the street to her apartment and started her research. She'd been keeping an eye on him over the years too, not as closely, but she had always known what he was up too. It wasn't hard considering her work and who he was, but still, after his adventure in the island and her thinking he was dead for over two years, she liked to make sure.

She had, however, stopped herself from reaching out to him in several occasions. He seemed to have moved on for everything, and she had too. As much as anyone could move on from that, anyway.

But now she had to talk to him again, and she would. It was the least she could do for Alice and for him after everything. It had been her fault after all. And that was what made her nervous, because she had no idea how he would react to _her_ , even though she knew he would jump at the opportunity to see Alice, she wasn't so sure he would want anything to do with her.

Finding his cellphone number had been the easy part. It took her a couple of deep breaths and a few seconds of pacing before she could dial it, however and as it rang, her heart began to beat faster and faster.

Oliver Queen had barely slept in two days. Between patrolling and Queen Industries and trying to keep up his reputation as a playboy, he rarely found five minutes of time when he wasn't busy. He'd no sooner sat down at his desk when his cell phone began to ring. He sighed softly, frowning a little when he saw the unknown number on his caller ID. "Hello?"

Chloe held her breath when she heard him, she hadn't remembered what his voice sounded like before, but she did now. "Oliver?" She paused, straightening, "this is Chloe Sullivan." She had no doubt he would remember her, but she had no idea how he would react.

He grew still at the sound of her voice, recognizing it before she even identified herself. "Okay?"

She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, "I'm sorry I'm just calling you out of the blue like this," she told him, keeping her voice as neutral as she could. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, it's...it's fine. What can I do for you?" he asked uncertainly.

Chloe remained quiet for a moment then pursed her lips together, "it's not for me, actually." She paused again, "she came to see me today. She wants to meet you."

At that, Oliver felt all the air leave his lungs.

She remained silent too, knowing that the information she had thrown at him was a lot to handle. His people hadn't let him have anything to do with it, hadn't let him have any information at all to make sure neither side tried to contact the other. But she knew that hadn't been his choice. "I understand if you don't want to be involved, but I promised her I would let you know."

"Where?" he asked, his voice sounding strained.

"In Metropolis," she said quietly, closing her eyes as they teared up, "she just moved here for college."

He leaned back in his seat, rubbing a hand over his face. "All right. I'll get there as soon as I can."

Chloe opened her eyes again, "you can contact me in this number if you want to," she told him, trying to keep her voice firm. "Or I can give her yours."

"Both is fine with me."

"Okay," she agreed, nodding to herself, "I'll let her know."

"I guess I'll...see you soon."

Her stomach clenched at that and she stopped herself from telling him he didn't have to. "Yeah, I'll see you soon." She agreed before pulling the phone away from her ear.

Oliver slowly punched the off button on his cell phone, staring at it for a long moment.

That was one call he hadn't been expecting.

* * *

**December 13, 2003**

_Oliver dropped his bookbag on the floor as he stepped inside the Torch office. "Pretty sure I bombed that chem test," he said as he flopped down on the small couch by the windows._

_Chloe blinked and turned to look at him when she heard him, sitting up straight and making a face, "that bad?" She frowned._

_He raised his eyebrows at her, nodding. "Oh, yeah. I really should've studied more," he admitted. Of course, his first instinct had been to copy off the kid sitting next to him, who undoubtedly had all the answers right. But he was trying really hard not to be **that** guy anymore._

_"Well, the good thing is that you still have time to make up for it." She smiled, "and I'm not great with Chemistry, but I get by, maybe I can help you study next time?"_

_He smiled back at her. "Yeah, I'd like that," he told her with a nod. "Whatcha working on now?"_

_"Cool," She grinned softly then turned back to the monitor, "layout, I'm almost done but of course Clark's piece is late again..." she said, rolling her eyes._

_He snorted. "I'm sure it's buried somewhere far up Lana's ass."_

_Chloe smirked at that and glanced at him again, shrugging, "what else is new?" She looked back at the layout and pushed her chair back, "I guess I should start looking for a filler."_

_"I could write something up," he offered, raising his eyebrows._

_She paused at that and turned to look at him, cocking her head slightly, "yeah? Feeling inspired?"_

_"Well, that winter dance is in a couple weeks." He gazed at her. "Wouldn't be hard to whip up something on that."_

_Her face brightened and she nodded, grinning at him, "I was going to leave that for next issue, but yeah, if you want to do a smaller story now and a follow up for the next one, that would be awesome."_

_Oliver couldn't help but smile at the way her face lit up at his offer. He pushed himself up off the sofa. "Consider it done, Gorgeous." He winked at her._

_She grinned and rolled her eyes at him even as her face got warm, "speaking of winter," she said, "what are you planning for Christmas?"_

_He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. "Nothing, really. What about you? Big plans with your dad?"_

_"Not really big plans," she shifted a little and shrugged, "just food and hanging out, my cousin was going to come spend Christmas with us but her dad demanded she goes see him instead."_

_"Food and hanging out's good," he said quietly, even as he waited for the old computer to boot up so he could work on the article._

_"You're welcome to come by if you're not doing anything," she said finally. She knew he had no family to spend Christmas with and she'd been meaning to ask him for almost a week already._

_"Yeah?" He glanced at her sideways, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "I don't want to intrude on your family."_

_"You won't intrude," she promised, smiling at him, "it'd be fun to have more people there than just dad and I."_

_Oliver relaxed a little at that, and nodded. "Yeah, okay. Should I bring anything?"_

_"If you want to?" She shrugged slightly, trying to stop herself from grinning, she'd been hoping he'd come, "I'm not sure what we're doing about food yet, but I can ask dad tonight and let you know."_

_He smiled. "Sounds good to me."_

_She grinned slightly back at him and nodded, "cool, I'll let you know tomorrow."_

_Oliver's eyes were bright as he met and held her gaze. "Thanks, Chloe."_

_"Thank you for that," she said, motioning to his computer, "you're a life saver, Ollie."_

_He smiled, but it was faint. That couldn't be farther from what he was, but he didn't contradict her. Just winked at her and set about writing the article._


	3. Chapter 3

After her conversation with Oliver, Chloe decided to take a break before calling Alice back with his number. The girl was dealing with freshman activities anyway and would probably be busy, but also, Chloe needed the time to process what was going on. Since Alice's eighteenth birthday, she had been hoping for that phone call. She had been checking the girl's school records every few days since she saw her acceptance into MetU to see if she had accepted it, but the past week had been so crazy with work, she had forgotten to keep up with it.

And now she was there. And Oliver was making his way back into the state and Chloe had no idea what this would all mean for their future. What she wanted, and what she hoped for, was that they both could finally be a part of Alice's life but she had no idea how he would react to being around the person who took the girl away from him in the first place. Or if he'd want to be around her at all and the last thing she wanted was to make Alice feel like she was stuck in the middle and make her uncomfortable.

She also wanted to talk to Lois, she was the only other person who knew about this whole thing now, but she had to make sure Clark was nowhere around them because she didn't want him to overhear anything on the subject.

But first things first. It was just past noon and Chloe figured they would have a lunch break at least, so she was going to try and talk to her now and at least reassure her that Oliver wanted to meet her. She had been able to tell just how anxious the girl had been during their conversation after all.

Chloe pulled her number from the recent calls and saved it to her phone then pressed 'call' before pulling her phone to her ear and going back to pacing the room as it rang.

A moment later, Alice answered. "Chloe?"

She held her breath when she answered and let it out slowly, "hey, Alice," she greeted, "can you talk?"

"Yeah, I'm on a short break from orientation," she assured her.

"Good," Chloe smiled a little, "how is it going so far?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"Oh." There was a hint of surprise in her tone. "It's good. The campus is nice. I think I'll like it."

"Good, I'm glad you like it so far. If you have any questions about it, you can let me know. It's been a while, but I actually went to MetU too." Chloe said, smiling to herself, she'd been afraid that she wouldn't like the school and would decide to go somewhere else instead.

Alice hesitated a moment. "Yeah, I know you did."

Chloe paused and arched her eyebrows at that, "did your mom tell you that?" She didn't know how her mom would have known, but it was a possibility. Unless of course she wasn't the only one who had been doing some research.

"No, I figured it out myself," she confessed, sounding a little sheepish.

She grinned slightly to herself, "I guess I'm not the only one who googled the other here, huh?" She said, trying to make her more comfortable.

A soft chuckle escaped her. "I guess not."

"Makes us even," she smiled, relaxing too, "I was actually calling to let you know I spoke with him."

Alice held her breath at that. "What'd he say?"

"He's on his way to Metropolis, he wants to meet you," she said, smiling softly at that.

"Really? He does?"

"He does," Chloe assured her, "he lives in California, so I'm not sure when he will make it here, but I have his number, if you want it."

"Oh." She bit her lip. "Do you think I should call him? I mean, maybe I should wait..."

"If you want to wait, you can and I can make sure he has your number," Chloe told her, even though the last thing she wanted was to call Oliver again so shortly after the last time, "but I think he would like to hear from you. No, I know he would." 

Alice was silent for a moment. "Okay, I'll take the number." And if she got up the courage, maybe she'd convince herself to call him.

"Okay, do you have a paper or do you want me to text it to you?" She asked, glad she had decided to take the number.

"I have paper," she answered, pulling a small notebook from her purse and uncapping a pen. "I'm ready."

"Okay, it's 555-563-4523," Chloe told her after she walked back to her computer so she could read the number off of her research earlier, "his name is Oliver."

"Thank you," Alice said, jotting down the information.

"You're welcome," she said quietly, "he's a good guy and like I said, I think he will like to hear from you."

"Okay," she said just as softly. "I have to get back to orientation, but...can we talk again? Or have dinner or something?"

"Yes," Chloe said almost too quickly, "I took the rest of the day off so, let me know when you're done and I can meet you there or pick you up if you need me to."

"Oh. Yeah, that'd be great. I'll just call then?"

"Yeah, just call me when you're ready, I don't live far from campus." Chloe told her, stomach tight again. She'd been hoping she would be able to see her again soon.

Alice smiled a little. "Okay, I will. Thanks for everything."

"No problem," Chloe said sincerely, smiling softly, "I'll see you later."

* * *

Lois tapped her heel on the floor, frowning deeply as she waited for her cousin to answer her cell phone. It was nearly one in the afternoon, and not only had Chloe not met her for lunch, she hadn't even called. Somewhere between worry and annoyance, she'd decided the best course of action was to call _her_ and if she didn't answer, her next action would be to send Clark looking for her. Getting into trouble was in the Sullivan-Lane genes, that was for sure.

It only took Chloe two calls to answer the phone, she had barely hung up with Alice and made her way back to her computer when it started ringing again. She held her breath when she saw her cousin's name flashing across the screen, "hey." She answered, making her way back to her desk in the office area.

"Where _are_ you? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," she frowned, shaking her head a little, "I'm at home."

"Are you sick?" Lois frowned, too.

"I'm not," she promised, taking a deep breath, "there's something going on, and it's not bad but, I need to take care of it."

She sat forward at her desk, raising her eyebrows. "Do you need some help?"

"No," she straightened a little, "but I do need to talk to you without anyone listening in."

Lois' gaze darted around the room. "Let me shut my door." She set the phone on her desk and moved over to close the door, then locked it for good measure. Then she picked the phone up once again. "All right, I'm all ears."

"And Clark?" She asked, arching her eyebrows.

"He's out on a story."

"She came to find me, Lois." Chloe took another deep breath, "Alice."

Lois held her breath for a long moment. "She did?"

"Yes," Chloe sat back down, "she called me this morning, I met her at the cafe, we talked for a while and I'll see her again tonight."

"Wow," she whispered. "And uh--how'd that go?"

"Well, I think." Her chest tightened, "she doesn't hate me."

"Of course she doesn't," she responded automatically.

"I just want to explain everything to her..." she said quietly then held her breath, "and Oliver is coming to town."

Her eyes widened at that. "What? Is that a great idea?"

"She asked to meet him, Lo." Chloe explained, "I... don't know how it will be, but I called him and he wanted to come." She paused, "I can't take that from him too."

Lois rubbed a hand over her face. "Do you want me to come over or something?"

"No, it's okay. I need to clean. I don't know if she's going to come by and there are research printouts all over my apartment." Chloe took a deep breath, "thank you."

"All right. All right, well, if something comes up, don't hesitate to call me."

"I will," she promised then paused, "I hate to do this to you, but I really don't want anyone to hear anything about this." And by that, she meant Clark.

"Understood," Lois said without hesitation.

"Thanks, Lo. I'll talk to you tomorrow." She said quietly.

"All right. I love you." Her voice was soft, too.

"Love you too," she whispered, hesitating for a moment before hanging up. She meant when she said she had to clean, but first, she needed to look closer into what Oliver had been up to, so she would know what to expect.

* * *

Oliver wasted no time calling his pilot and packing for Metropolis. Within a few short hours of Chloe's phone call, he was landing at the airport and as soon as his jet stopped, he was dialing her number and placing the phone to his ear, waiting.

She had a pile of paper in her arms when she heard her phone ring and, thinking it was Alice, she dropped it to the floor and rushed to her desk, picking up a second later, "hello?"

"It's Oliver Queen," he said softly. "I just landed at the airport."

Chloe held her breath when she heard his voice and remained quiet for a moment, "that was fast," she commented then nodded a little, "I... she's at school right now."

"Oh. All right." He rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly.

"I'll pick her up when she's done," Chloe said quietly, closing her eyes, "if you want to meet her today."

He swallowed hard. "Do you think--I mean, is she ready for that?"

"She said she wanted to meet you," she told him, it had been almost two decades since she'd heard his voice, but she could tell he was nervous, "are you ready for that?"

Oliver was silent for a moment. "If she is, I am."

It was Chloe's turn to remain quiet, "I can drop her off somewhere if you want to meet her alone."

He shook his head even though he knew she couldn't see him. "No, it's all right."

Her chest tightened even more at his answer and her eyes teared up a little, "do you think... we should meet before you meet her?"

He held his breath for a moment. "Yeah. I think that'd probably be a good idea."

"Okay," she said quietly, taking a deep breath, "do you want to come by or do you want me to meet you somewhere?"

"I uh--I bought the clock tower there in Metropolis. I should be there in about an hour if you'd want to come by."

Chloe paused at that and looked toward the window, at the building right across from hers, "on 7th?" She asked, arching her eyebrows.

"That's the one, yeah." He raised his eyebrows a little.

"Yeah, I can be there," she swallowed, wondering how she had missed _that_ detail.

"All right. I'll see you soon, then," he said softly.

"See you in an hour," she said, closing her eyes again as she disconnected the call.

* * *

**December 20, 2003**

_"Come on," Chloe told Clark when he lingered while getting out of her car, butterflies in her stomach as she looked toward the gym entrance, adjusting her dress, "we're already late."_

_"What's your big hurry? The dance is in like three hours," Clark pointed out, trying to adjust his tie so it didn't feel like it was choking him._

_"Because I told Oliver I was going to meet him here half an hour ago," she rolled her eyes and glanced at him. And while she and Ollie hadn't made any plans to go_ together _, she was looking forward to seeing him._

_Clark couldn't help but roll his eyes, as well. "Are you guys dating?"_

_"No," she arched her eyebrows at him, annoyed, "but neither are you and Lana and you never seem to leave her waiting."_

_He sighed. "Right."_

_Chloe took a deep breath at that and took his arm, "come on, maybe you will notice that there are other girls in the school while we're here."_

_"Yeah, but they're not Lana," he said quietly._

_"Exactly," she told him, glancing up at him as they made their way inside._

_Within a couple of moments they were in the heavily-decorated gym. The place was covered in fake snowflakes, a large Christmas tree at one end of the room, with fake packages beneath it. At the small food table, a couple of teachers were handing out candy canes and cans of soda._

_Chloe shrugged off her coat and started to look around the room even as she headed toward the coat rack by the door, ignoring the way her heart was beating fast in her chest._

_"There's Lana," Clark said, his expression brightening as he left her by the door._

_She blinked and turned toward Clark, rolling her eyes as she watched him walk away, "sure, no problem about the ride, Clark. I'll see you later." She muttered, shaking her head as she turned to hang her coat._

_* * *_

_Oliver sat in the far corner of the gym, in the bleachers by himself. He'd been waiting for her in the lobby, but he'd seen her walk in with Clark and suddenly he wondered if a high school dance had been such a great idea on his part. He told himself that he was being ridiculous because it wasn't like they were dating or anything. But he'd tensed the moment he'd seen her link arms with the other guy, and he found himself wishing he'd chosen to stay home instead._

_Chloe had been looking for him for a good fifteen minutes now, she had asked Pete if he'd seen him and he had made her dance a whole song with him. When she finally managed to break free, she made her way to the teacher's table and got herself a soda. Just as she took the first sip, her eyes fell on the far end of the room and she saw him sitting there. Alone. Seemingly staring at his shoes._

_She held her breath and took another sip of her soda before turning around and grabbing another one and making her way over to where he was._

_He felt, more than heard, her approach. He didn't look up, his jaw tightening ever-so-slightly._

_"Ollie?" She called when he didn't look up, standing right by the bleachers where he was._

_He forced himself to take a deep breath before looking up at her. "Hey."_

_"Hey," she hesitated then held out his soda to him, "you okay?"_

_Oliver was silent for a moment before reluctantly accepting the drink from her. "Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks."_

_Chloe set her drink down next to him then picked up her dress and moved to sit next to him, "what are you doing back here?"_

_"Nothing, really," he told her, opening his can of coke and taking a sip._

_"Sorry I was late," she said quietly, picking up her own can and sipping on it as she glanced at him._

_He shrugged. "It happens."_

_She paused and chewed on the inside of her bottom lip, "I guess." She paused, looking out at the dance floor. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"_

_"Shouldn't you be dancing with Clark?"_

_Chloe paused and frowned at that, turning to look at him again. "what is that supposed to mean?"_

_"He's your date, right?" He took a swig of his soda, not looking at her._

_She arched her eyebrow at that and cocked her head to look better at him, "is he?"_

_His jaw tightened a little and he finally looked at her, as well. "Well, you guys came together...walked in arm-in-arm."_

_Her eyes widened a little and Chloe stared at him, "yeah, because his dad's car broke down and he asked me for a ride and then he was upset over Lana_ again _and I was trying to be a good friend." She said firmly._

_Oliver stared back at her for a long moment, swallowing hard. "That's it?"_

_"What did you think it_ was _, Oliver?" She asked, her heart beating a little faster as she tried to ignore the fact that he cared._

_"I thought maybe he finally realized he was an idiot," he said, watching her intently._

_Chloe stared at him for a long moment and pursed her lips together, shrugging, "wouldn't matter if he had."_

_"It wouldn't?" Oliver set his can of soda down on the bleachers beside him._

_"No," she told him, swallowing hard._

_He searched her eyes. "I'm very relieved to hear that," he admitted._

_Her stomach tightened a little as she held his gaze, "why?"_

_Oliver held his breath for a moment. "Because he's a jerk. You could do a lot better." He paused. "And because..."_

_Chloe sat up a little, her eyes widening slightly, "and what?"_

_He sighed softly. "Because_ I _like you," he whispered._

_She felt like her stomach had dropped and held her breath, "you do?" She whispered back._

_He nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek. "How could I not?"_

_"Why didn't you say something?" She asked, pursing her lips together._

_"Because I didn't want to screw things up." Oliver looked down at his hands._

_Chloe paused at that and nodded slightly, looking down too, "yeah. I don't want that either."_

_Oliver exhaled slowly. "Maybe I should just go home."_

_Her chest tightened again and she shifted on her seat, "if you want to."_

_"Do_ you _want me to?" he whispered._

_"No," she said quickly, biting down on her bottom lip and glancing at him._

_"No?" He looked at her once more, his eyes hopeful._

_Chloe sighed softly and shook her head, "the only reason I came was to hang out with you, if you're leaving, I'll probably just go home too."_

_He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, then held his hand out to her._

_She held her breath and looked down at his hand, hesitating a second before setting her soda down and placing her hand in his. She pursed her lips together and looked at him, her eyes wide once more._

_"What do you say we dance then?" he asked quietly._

_Nodding slightly, she tightened her grip on his hand and moved to slide from the bleachers to the floor once more._

_He smiled a little, linking his fingers through hers and following her onto the gymnasium floor. Then he slid his other arm around her waist, pulling her close to him as a slow song came on._

_She smiled softly too and raised her hands to his shoulders, shifting closer to him as she moved with him slowly, "looks like you know what you're doing," she said quietly after a moment._

_"I may or may not have had a few classes over the years. But that's strictly off the record," he said lightly._

_"Front page tomorrow, got it," she teased, relaxing a little._

_Oliver chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Guess I'd better hope something more interesting happens tonight."_

_"Yeah," she agreed, "I don't think it will happen. That's a Daily Planet front page right there."_

_"Guess I'm sunk," he said, faking a sigh._

_"Somehow your reputation survived hanging out with me, something has to hurt it." She grinned softly._

_Oliver smirked. "I'll be the talk of the town."_

_"The state," she corrected, shifting her hands a little higher over his shoulders._

_"Been there, done that," he reminded her with a small, amused smile._

_"I know," she cocked her head, squinting a little, "and you've been behaving all this semester."_

_He grinned. "I guess someone's been keeping me in line."_

_"Are you trying to say I'm a good influence?" She asked in mock shock._

_Oliver's eyes widened. "What?_ You? _Perish the thought."_

_"Oh, good," she smirked, looking up at him, "that would make me boring."_

_"You are anything but boring," he informed her._

_Chloe paused at that and smiled softly, "if you say so," she said quietly, holding his gaze._

_"I do," he said with a slight nod, smiling back at her, his eyes bright._

_She watched at him for a moment longer then grinned shyly, ducking her head as they danced slowly._

_"You look really beautiful," Oliver told her a moment later. "I meant to tell you earlier."_

_Chloe held her breath and turned to look at him again, "thank you," she said quietly._

_He smiled softly, nodding a little as he ducked his head this time._

_She kept her eyes on him for a moment longer then took a deep breath, pausing when the song ended and looking around then at him again._

_Oliver held her gaze, hesitating and then shifting closer to her, dipping his head a little._

_Her heart skipped a beat but she held his gaze, shifting a hand to his back and lifting her head slightly._

_He kissed her softly on the mouth, gentle and hesitant as he lifted his hand to her cheek._

_Chloe cocked her head slightly, leaning into his touch and pressing her lips a little more firmly to his as she wrapped her arms around his neck without noticing._

_After a long moment, he slowly pulled away to look at her, his heart beating quickly in his chest as he waited for her reaction._

_She took a deep breath and blinked her eyes open, licking her lips as she looked up at him, her hands sliding to his shoulder, "wow." She whispered, without realizing she had said the word out loud._

_A grin tugged at his mouth and he nodded a little. "Agreed."_

_Blushing, she grinned too and looked down then took a deep breath and shook her head, "what happened to not screwing things up?" She asked quietly, looking at him again._

_"I think this might be worth taking the chance," he said just as quietly._


	4. Chapter 4

With a deep breath, Chloe watched as the elevator door slid open, her heart was beating fast as she tried her best not to think about the last time she'd seen him, to push all the memories of her sixteen year old self away. It had been eighteen and half years, they were different people now, they had both gone through a lot and she shouldn't expect it to be anything like it had been then. They were barely acquaintances now, even if they had been best friends once. Best friends and so much more than that.

Pulling herself out of her own thoughts, she reached for the gates and pushed them open carefully, "Oliver?" She called, looking around.

At the sound of her voice, he shut his eyes for a moment, then drew in a breath and let it out slowly. He stepped out of the kitchen and stilled as his gaze fell upon her for the first time in years. "Hi," he said quietly.

Her breath caught in her throat and she stilled too, looking at him for a long moment. She'd seen recent pictures of him of course, but seeing him there, just a few feet from her... It was overwhelming. "Hi." She whispered.

"Do you uh--do you want something to drink?"

Chloe shook her head slightly and pursed her lips together, "I'm okay, thank you." She managed, not stepping any closer.

He suddenly found himself wishing _he'd_ had a drink. He nodded a little and looked down at the floor.

Chewing on the inside of her mouth, she looked around the apartment, trying to think of something to say, "have you had this place for a while?" She had never been good with uncomfortable silences.

"If by awhile you mean ten hours, yeah. Long time." He smiled, but it was faint.

"Oh." Her eyes widened a little more at that, the place was minimalist, but it was furnished. Although with his name, she shouldn't be surprised.

"You look good," he said softly.

She held her breath and looked at him again, "thank you," she swallowed hard, "so do you."

Oliver was silent for a moment, then he took a step toward her, motioning to the sofa. "Why don't we sit?"

Chloe nodded and made her way to the offered seat, setting her purse next to her, "thank you for being willing to meet with me."

He paused at that before sitting down a few feet from her. "Did you think I wouldn't be?"

"I wouldn't blame you if you weren't." She told him, keeping her eyes on him.

Drawing in a breath, he leaned back against the cushions. "It's been a really long time," he whispered.

She looked down at her hands that were on her lap and nodded, "it has been."

"How is she?" He swallowed hard.

"Beautiful," she said quietly, closing her eyes and stopping herself from wrapping her arms around herself. She held on to her own hand instead. "She's bright and from what I could tell, sweet." Chloe swallowed and turned to look at him, "her name is Alice."

Pain flicked over his features and he shut his eyes, holding his breath for a moment. "Alice," he echoed softly.

Taking a deep breath, she sat up a little straighter, "they were good to her," she whispered, her voice wavering, "she got along with them."

He rubbed a hand over his face. "That's...that's good."

Chloe wanted nothing more than to apologize to him, but she stopped herself from doing that. She needed to focus on Alice. This wasn't about _them_ , it was about _her_. "All I told her about you is your first name."

"How did she find you?" he asked, not looking up.

"Her mom knew my name, she told her." Chloe explained, "according to the papers, she would have the option to find it through the adoption agency one she turned eighteen."

"Oh," he murmured. "I never...saw them."

This time, she did wrap her arms around herself and nodded, suddenly feeling like a terrified sixteen year old again, "I know."

"And she's okay? I mean, she just wanted to meet us because she was curious?"

"Yes," she nodded, "at least she hasn't mentioned anything else and she looks healthy."

Oliver relaxed a little, opening his eyes once more. "Thank God," he said softly, rising to his feet.

Chloe kept her eyes on him then took a deep breath, "I have been checking on her," she admitted, "the whole time."

Somehow he wasn't terribly surprised by that. "I'm glad she's all right. And that she found you."

"Me too," she nodded slightly and took a deep breath, looking down again, "and that she will get to finally meet you."

"Yeah," he whispered, rubbing his hand over his face again.

"Is there anything else I can tell you about her?" Chloe offered, dropping her hands to her lap once more.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, you just met her, right?"

"Yeah," she agreed, "but like I said, I have been checking in on her. I know about her school record and medical history," she said quietly, pursing her lips together.

He nodded a little, exhaling slowly. "I guess...I mean is there anything you think I should know?"

"Nothing I can think of, nothing big anyway," she said quietly, taking a deep breath. "I know this probably caught you completely by surprise."

"Yeah, a little," he admitted, chewing the inside of his cheek.

"If there is anything I can do to help ease this on you..." she offered, turning to look at him once more.

He met her eyes, his chest tightening. "No, it's good. I mean, it's good to know she's all right."

She held his gaze for a second then looked away, nodding, "yeah. I agree."

"Are _you_ all right, Chloe?" he asked softly, watching her closely.

Chloe held her breath at that and turned to look at him again, "yeah," she breathed, "I'd been hoping she'd contact me, but it's still kind of a shock." 

Oliver perched on the edge of the sofa beside her. "I'm sure it was."

She turned slightly toward him to look at him better, "it's good to see you again." 

"It's good to see you, too," he admitted, meeting her eyes.

Her chest tightened and she nodded slightly, "it's been a really long time." She said quietly. 

"Yes, it has," he agreed, looking down at her hands.

Chloe arched her eyebrows a little and looked down at her hands too then back at him, "how have you been?" She asked quietly. 

"Good. You know, all right." He flexed his fingers, looking down at his own hands this time. "I'm running Queen Industries."

"I read," she admitted, smiling softly and glancing at his hands too when he did, "and I read you're doing an amazing job with it." 

"And you're an editor at the Daily Planet," he said softly, glancing at her sideways with a small smile.

"Not yet," she said, smiling softly and looking down, "senior reporter." 

"On your way, though."

"Hopefully," she nodded, "and I'm sure you read that Lois and Clark are also working there now." She told him, trying to keep the conversation light. She knew he and Clark had never gotten along really, but the couple of times he met her cousin, they were friendly enough. 

"I did," he admitted. "How is it, working with family?" he asked curiously.

"It's not bad, they mostly work with each other, but Lois and I write together every now and then." Chloe said, looking at him again. 

"You make a good team. I've uh--I've read some of your articles." He looked down at his hands.

Her face softened and her chest tightened, but she kept her eyes on him, "thank you," she said quietly. 

Oliver glanced at her sideways. "How are you, other than work?"

Chloe paused at that and shrugged slightly. "okay," she told him, "it's a time consuming kind of job." She smiled slightly. "what about you?" 

He smiled faintly, nodding. "Mine is too," he said, holding his breath for a moment. It wasn't like he could tell her what he did every night.

"I imagined," she admitted, "being a CEO can't be an easy job." 

"No, not usually."

"What else have you been doing?" She asked quietly, keeping her eyes on him. She really didn't have a life outside of work, she couldn't help but wonder if he did. 

He shook his head a little. "Getting into trouble, mostly. I'm surprised you haven't read about it."

Her chest tightened a little and she arched her eyebrows then looked away, "I heard about the island." It had been just a couple of years after the last time they saw each other and hearing he was pronounced dead had been devastating. She had been incredibly relieved when she heard about his return. 

"Yeah, that was...an experience, to say the least." He smiled, but it was faint.

"I was really relieved to hear you found your way back." She said quietly, looking down at her lap. 

He swallowed hard at her words, hesitantly reaching out and laying his hand on her arm. "That means a lot," he whispered.

Chloe held her breath and looked over at his hand then up at him again, nodding slightly. She had had to hold herself back from tracking him down and calling him then, but she didn't want to bother him if he had moved on. "Just glad you're okay." She whispered back. 

Oliver gazed at her, searching her eyes, a flood of emotions washing over him. "Are you uh--seeing anyone?"

She paused at the question and held his gaze, shaking her head slightly, "no," she said quietly, her heart beating faster against her chest, "you?" 

"Nothing serious," he told her, offering her a small smile.

She paused at that and nodded slightly, looking away again and standing up. Of course there was _someone_. How could there not be? And it had been almost twenty years since they had seen each other, it really shouldn't matter. "Do you think you will be spending more time in Metropolis if she sticks to Met U?" She asked, doing her best to keep the subject change as natural as possible. 

Oliver fell silent as she rose to her feet and moved away from him. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, looking down at the floor as he rested his elbows on his knees. "I guess it depends on how things go," he said quietly. It was why he'd purchased the clock tower earlier that day--just in case.

"Yeah," Chloe agreed, "she seemed... open to letting us be in her life." 

"She might change her mind when she finds out who I am." He didn't look up.

"I don't think she will," She said quietly, taking a step toward him once more. 

"I guess time will tell, huh?"

She watched him for a moment then nodded slightly, "I guess so. Hopefully she will call soon." 

Oliver glanced up at her, raising his eyebrows. "Maybe we could all have dinner," he said softly.

Chloe considered him for a moment then nodded, "I think that would be nice but... maybe not in public?" 

"I can cook something," he suggested.

She couldn't help but smile a little at that, "glad to hear you haven't given that up." 

A small smile tugged at his mouth. "It's my secret power," he joked.

"As long as you use it for good," she smiled softly, arching her eyebrows.

"I do my best." He smiled a bit more.

"Glad to hear that hasn't changed either," she said quietly, holding his gaze. 

Oliver held his breath for a moment, then slowly rose to his feet, hesitantly moving toward her. "I've missed you."

She stilled and looked at him, pursing her lips together and nodding slightly as her stomach knotted, "I've missed you too." She whispered. 

"Would it be too weird if I hugged you?" he asked, chewing on his lower lip.

Her face softened and her eyes teared up slightly, she nodded and took a step closer to him, lifting her arms to wrap them around his back. 

Oliver let out his breath, sliding his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly as he shut his eyes.

She wrapped her arms around him just as tightly and closed her eyes too, holding on to him as she pressed her head to his chest. He was much stronger now, but their heights must still be the same because she remembered hugging him back then and feeling like this. She also remembered pressing her ear to his chest and feeling like his heart was beating right under it. Exactly how it was now.

He leaned his head against hers, relaxing into the embrace in a way he hadn't relaxed in a very long time.

Chloe shifted a little closer to him and relaxed too, after almost two decades, she still thought about him constantly, but she hadn't realized just how much she'd missed him.

Without really thinking about it, he rubbed her back gently, keeping her close to him. No.

It definitely didn't feel weird at all.


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver sat nervously in the passenger seat of Chloe's car as they waited for their daughter.

Their _daughter_. Not a day had gone by where he hadn't thought of her, wondered what she looked like, how she'd turned out. Not a day had gone by that he hadn't hoped that she'd found a good family that took care of her, that loved her and was there for her, that loved her as much as _he_ did. And while it might have overall been for the best, he couldn't help but feel the familiar twinge of bitterness at how things had turned out the way they had.

It had never been what he'd wanted. From the beginning, despite their age, he had been convinced that they could raise her, take care of her and love her. But he hadn't been allowed that option. He blew out a breath, bouncing his foot lightly against the floorboards. There was no point dwelling on it. As far as he knew, turning back time wasn't really a viable option.

Chloe shifted anxiously as she looked amongst the students walking around the front of the campus, "she doesn't know my car," she said quietly, glancing at Oliver who looked a little pale, "would you mind staying here while I go find her?" She wouldn't mind him coming with her normally, but she didn't want it to be a big scene.

"No, go ahead," he assured her, glancing at her sideways.

"I'll be right back," she told him, looking at him for a moment and smiling slightly, "take a couple deep breaths," she suggested. She was feeling a lot more relaxed now that she felt like the two of them were okay. They hadn't had a chance to talk much, Alice had called, but they would have time for that later. Hopefully.

He smiled a bit, nodding. "Right." He exhaled slowly and then took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, as well.

"It will be okay," she promised then opened the door and slid down from her car. She usually tended to stick to smaller cars, but after a particularly bad investigative story a couple years back, Lois had talked her into getting an SUV with bullet proof windows. At least there was enough room for all of them in there.

She held onto her phone and made her way through the front yard, looking around and spotting Alice a moment later, smiling a little to herself, she made her way toward her, "Alice?" She called.

Alice smiled back, lifting a hand to wave at her as she approached. "Thank you for picking me up."

"You're welcome," she told him, stopping herself from giving her a hug, "I have a surprise for you."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she cocked her head to the side. "You do?"

Chloe nodded slightly, "Oliver got into town a couple hours ago." She told her, glancing toward her car, she had no doubt he could see them.

Alice's eyes widened. "That was really fast."

"He has a powerful name," she said quietly, figuring it was better to ease her into it as much as she could.

"What do you mean?" She frowned a little.

"Have you heard about Oliver Queen?" Chloe asked, keeping her voice low, "from Queen Industries?"

"Who hasn't?" She paused, her eyes widening once more. "Wait, are you saying that Oliver Queen is...?"

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly, "I just don't want you to go in thinking of everything the papers have published about him. He's a really great guy." Chloe said quietly, glancing at the car again, "and he can't wait to see you and get to know you."

Alice's eyes were still wide and she followed Chloe's gaze to the car across the yard. "Holy _crap_ ," she whispered.

Chloe smiled softly at her reaction and nodded, "I know," she said quietly, even though it had always been hard for her to see him as the big powerful CEO. She always just saw him as the boy she fell in love with. "Do you need a moment?"

She swallowed hard, then shook her head. "Do I look okay?"

"You look great," she smiled, placing a hand on her back without thinking about it, "come on."

Nodding, she walked alongside Chloe silently, approaching the car.

Chloe reached for the back door behind Oliver once they'd approached the car and nodded slightly at Alice, waiting for her to get in.

Oliver swallowed hard as he turned to look at the pretty young blonde as she climbed into the backseat behind him. "Hi," he said softly.

Alice stared at him with wide eyes even as Chloe closed the door, "h-hi." She said quietly, pulling her hair behind her ear.

"I'm Oliver," he said just as quietly, holding his hand out to her.

"Alice," she told him, taking his hand as she stared at him with wide brown eyes.

He held his breath as he met her gaze. She had his eyes. "It's really nice to meet you, Alice."

"You too," Alice looked down, pulling her hair behind her ear, "thanks for coming to Metropolis."

"I was happy to," he said quickly.

Chloe got into the car, glanced over at the two of them and smiled a little but remained quiet as she started the car.

"Thanks," she said uncertainly, staring at him for a moment, "I can't believe you are _you_..." she said quietly.

He smiled a bit at that and glanced at Chloe. "I am," he said softly.

Chloe smirked a little and glanced at Oliver then at Alice through the rearview mirror.

She smiled shyly and nodded a little, "Chloe just told me, sorry."

"It's fine," he assured her. "I'm sure everything's been kind of shocking."

"Yeah," she took a deep breath, "kinda. But I really wanted to meet you guys."

"I'm fairly certain I speak for both of us when I say we really wanted to meet you, too, Alice." He smiled softly.

"You do," Chloe agreed, glancing at the girl through the mirror once more.

Alice glanced at her too then back at Oliver and nodded, smiling a little more, "where are we going?" She asked him after a moment.

"I thought maybe we could all have dinner together. I mean, unless you have other plans." He raised his eyebrows a little, looking at her hopefully.

"No, no, dinner is fine," she said, "Chloe and I already kinda had planned to have dinner and... well I don't know anyone here, really." Alice told him.

He nodded a little. "I have a place here. That clock tower," he said, pointing out the window to it.

"Oh," Alice frowned, glancing at Chloe, "didn't you say that's where you live?"

Chloe paused and arched her eyebrows, "well, actually, I live in the building across from it, I just use it as reference."

Oliver blinked and raised his eyebrows as well. "You live across the street?" There was a hint of surprise to his voice.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I forgot to mention earlier," she said, glancing at him.

"Oops..." Alice said, looking between the two of them and chewing on the inside of her mouth.

"Weird coincidence," he commented with a small smile.

"It's okay," Chloe told Alice then nodded at Oliver, "I know, but pretty convenient." She mentioned, smiling a little.

"Where are you staying while you're here?" he asked Alice.

"At the dorms," she told him, making a face, "it's a requirement for freshmen."

Oliver smiled a little at her expression. "I see."

"It's not too bad, I guess..." she told him.

"Don't worry, I hated it too, at least with my first roommate who thought I was too weird and asked to be reassigned," she told Alice.

He glanced at Chloe sideways, wondering what had caused _that_. "Did you get a better roommate the second time around?"

"Arguable," she said, trying to make conversation to get them both to relax, "I got Lois after that," she glanced at Alice, "my cousin."

Oliver smirked. "And how much trouble did the two of you wind up getting into when she moved in?"

"She caused most of it, I can assure you that," Chloe told him, smiling softly.

Alice watched the two of them for a moment, even though Chloe had told her they hadn't talked in a long time, they did seem to get along okay and that definitely made things easier.

"Sounds like Lois," he admitted, nodding.

"Are you and your cousin close?" She asked.

Chloe nodded a little, "yeah, she's kinda like a sister to me, she works with me at the Planet too."

"Your mo--" Oliver froze for a moment, swallowing hard as the words died on his lips. "Chloe is...one heck of a reporter."

Pausing a little, Chloe glanced over at him and pursed her lips together.

"Yeah," Alice nodded a little and smiled slightly, "I read some of her articles."

He rubbed a hand over his face, staring out the window for a moment. "That's good," he said softly.

"My mom had been reading them over the past couple of years too." She mentioned.

Chloe paused again and glanced at the girl again, "oh, she had?"

Oliver glanced in the rearview mirror, a faintly surprised look on his face.

Alice shrugged and she nodded, "she said she wanted to know more about you so she would have answers when I asked."

"That was very considerate of her," he said softly.

"Is she going to visit you anytime soon?" Chloe asked, "I'd like to see her again."

"Yeah," Alice nodded slightly, "she said she'd give me a few weeks to adjust but with dad gone.. I'm sure she won't wait too long."

Oliver swallowed hard, falling silent at the turn of conversation.

"Right," Chloe nodded slightly, "if she needs a place to stay, let me know. I have an extra room." She had trusted the woman with her daughter after all, she didn't see a problem trusting her to stay in her apartment.

"Or if she'd rather stay at a hotel, I can arrange that," he said softly.

Alice looked between the two of them for a moment then nodded slightly, smiling softly, "thanks."

Oliver nodded a little. "Sure thing." He glanced at Chloe, holding his breath.

Chloe glanced at him and nodded slightly as she parked the car in front of her building then turned to look at Alice, "and something we forgot to mention, Ollie is actually making us dinner." She told her, the nickname just rolling off her tongue.

He smiled faintly, both at Chloe using his nickname and at Alice's shocked look as he glanced at her in the rearview mirror again.

"Really?" Alice asked, "you don't have to do that."

"I actually like it," he told her.

"It's true," Chloe promised, "and he's pretty good from what I remember."

Alice nodded a little, "that sounds nice."

"Do you like Italian?" he asked Alice, glancing back at her.

"Yeah," she nodded, smiling at him.

Chloe's face softened at that as she watched the two of them, the first time she'd had his lasagna was the first and only Christmas they'd spent together.

"Great." He smiled back, and glanced at Chloe. "You still like it, right?" His voice grew softer.

"Definitely," she nodded, looking at the two of them then reaching for the door, "should we get upstairs?"

Alice nodded slightly and reached for the door too, getting out of the car.

Oliver slid out of the passenger seat, rising to full height and gazing intently at the younger woman.

She looked up at him and pursed her lips together, smiling softly but shyly as she looked down.

"You're a very beautiful young woman," he said softly.

Alice blushed, looking at him again but letting her long blonde hair half fall over her face, "thanks."

He couldn't help but smile, then glanced over at Chloe, amazed at how much Alice looked like a younger version of her.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Chloe asked Oliver as she rounded the car, "I don't mind running to the store."

"Yeah, I had the place stocked," he admitted as he watched her.

"Handy," she said, nodding a little and smiling softly at him.

Alice looked between them again and smiled too, it was weird, but in a good way to be able to see where she came from.

"Ladies. Shall we?" He smiled at both of them.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Let's get upstairs," Chloe agreed as they crossed the street.

Oliver nodded, as well, leading the way and unlocking the door to the clock tower. "Come on in," he told them, stepping aside as he held the door.

"Does anyone else live here?" Alice asked, looking around the inside of the building.

"No, it's been empty for some time, and up for sale. I figured I could lease out the apartments," he told her.

"Do you live in the clock?" She asked, glancing at him.

Oliver nodded. "Yeah. I have a thing for a great view."

She smiled and nodded a little, "must be pretty cool."

Chloe watched the interaction in silence, she'd had a chance to speak with Alice some before, so she wanted Oliver to have some time too, but she couldn't believe just how easy it had been for the three of them to talk so far.

He pressed the button for the top floor, then glanced at Chloe, falling silent.

She glanced back at him and nodded slightly, holding his gaze and smiling a little. Even though this was an odd situation and the three of them had spent most of their lives apart, she couldn't help but think of the two of them as family.

* * *

**December 25, 2003**

_Oliver knocked lightly on the front door of the Sullivan's house, waiting patiently with several bags in his hands. His heart was beating quickly in his chest. He'd met Gabe Sullivan several times, and the man had always been very nice to him, but today was different. Because the last time he'd seen the older man, he hadn't been dating his daughter._

_"I got it!" Chloe called to her dad, her own heart beating faster because although she had seen him a couple of times since the dance, they hadn't really spent time together like they were going to today. With a deep breath, she opened the door and smiled brightly when she saw him, "hey."_

_He couldn't help but grin back at her. Her smiles were always so infectious. "Hi," he said, raising his eyebrows. "Merry Christmas."_

_"Merry Christmas," she grinned, stopping herself from leaning closer and kissing him, she hadn't exactly told her dad about it yet since she didn't want either of them to be uncomfortable during Christmas. Instead, she stepped closer and took a couple of the bags from him, "what's all this?"_

_"Food, and presents," he told her, grinning brightly back at her. "Just the essentials."_

_"Essentials," she said, arching her eyebrows, "come in, you must be freezing."_

_"Yeah, the California guy isn't really used to these kinds of conditions," he agreed, smirking as he looked at all the snow, then stepped inside, taking off his boots._

_"Well, this is what Christmas_ should _be like," she informed him, closing the door then leading him to the kitchen._

_"I have to admit, I'm already enjoying this year much more already," he told her, following her into the kitchen and shedding his jacket, draping it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs like he always did._

_"Because of the snow?" She smirked, arching her eyebrows as she set the bags on the table._

_Oliver rolled his eyes. "Sure. We'll go with that."_

_She grinned at him and stepped closer, squeezing his hand as she did, then dropping it, "I haven't told him," she whispered, "so relax."_

_"I'm all right," he told her, reaching up and tucking some hair behind her ear, then giving her a quick kiss on the cheek._

_She smiled softly and glanced toward the hallway then back at him and kissed him quickly, "still, if he doesn't know, he won't mind when we vanish later." She said mischievously._

_He grinned back at her. "Sounds promising." His eyes were bright._

_"So what did you bring?" She asked, mostly to stop herself from kissing him again._

_"Ah." He nodded and moved over to the table once more, beginning to rifle through the grocery bags. "You said you guys usually go for non-traditional food on Christmas, right?" He raised his eyebrows as he pulled a couple of jars of pasta sauce out and set them on the table._

_"Yeah." She said, arching her eyebrows curiously, "neither one of us can cook a turkey."_

_"How do you feel about lasagna?"_

_"You can make lasagna?" She asked, cocking her head, and watching him closely._

_"I can," he confirmed, nodding. "And garlic bread and spaghetti. Do you think that's okay for Christmas dinner?"_

_"You know when you said you would bring the food and that we shouldn't worry about it," she arched her eyebrows, "I don't know what I was expecting but it was definitely not this. It sounds awesome, Ollie."_

_He relaxed, smiling a little. "I like cooking," he admitted, meeting her gaze. "And I'm not half bad at it."_

_"I guess I never asked," she said, "I mean usually when we hang out at your place, the food just appears," she smirked._

_"Maybe I'm also _magic_ ," he responded with a smirk of his own._

_"Okay, Harry Potter," she teased, "what can I do to help you with your wand waving?"_

_"You can sit on the counter and continue looking beautiful to inspire me while I fix your food," he said with a wink._

_She gave him a look and shook her head, "I can help, even if I can't cook... is it a lot of work?" She asked, looking into the bags._

_"There are quite a few steps, but I'm sure I can figure out something that's not too difficult." He smirked._

_Chloe rolled her eyes and shrugged at him, "yeah well, I'm sure I can manage..." she said, mock glaring at him._

_"Chloe?" Gabe called, walking into the kitchen, "oh, hey Oliver. I didn't hear you getting here."_

_Oliver lifted his hand and gave the other man a slight wave. "Hey, Mr. Sullivan. Merry Christmas."_

_"Merry Christmas to you too," he nodded, looking at the food, "what are you making?"_

_"Lasagna," Chloe grinned, "and apparently no one can help him."_

_He grinned, too, ducking his head. "I've made it a lot, so I can handle it."_

_"Well if that's how you cook, you can come make dinner for us anytime," Gabe told him._

_Chloe rolled her eyes, "dad..."_

_He smiled again. "Hopefully you'll like it," he said, leaning against the counter._

_"I'm sure it will be great and much better than anything the two of us could come up with." Gabe told him, "are you sure you don't want any help?"_

_"I've got it," he assured them. "But I definitely don't mind the company." He smiled, glancing at Chloe._

_"I'll sit here and watch," she teased, smirking at him._

_"Seems like you have good company already," Gabe said knowingly, walking over to the fridge and grabbing a beer, "I will be in the living room with the fire extinguisher."_

_Oliver chuckled involuntarily. "I assure you, I won't burn down your house."_

_"Habit," Gabe commented with a smile then made his way out of the kitchen._

_Chloe watched him go then turned back to Ollie, "so while you're cooking, do you want some hot chocolate?"_

_"Yeah, that'd be great." He smiled. "That is if you can fix it without needing that fire extinguisher," he teased._

_"I think I can manage to microwave some water," she told him, walking over to the cupboard, "or milk if you prefer?"_

_"Either's fine," he assured her with a soft smile._

_She smiled back at him and nodded slightly, "I like milk better, makes it creamier," she told him, picking up two mugs._

_"Works for me," he told her, watching her for a moment before turning to start working on the lasagna. Maybe Christmas wasn't so bad after all._


	6. Chapter 6

Dinner had gone remarkably well, Ollie's specialty lasagna was every bit as amazing as Chloe remembered and making dinner had been a really nice experience. She didn't help much, but Alice and Oliver seemed to know what they were doing, Alice had told them she enjoyed cooking too and that growing up, she always helped her mom in the kitchen. The three of them had spent the last three hours talking and sharing stories and once more, it surprised Chloe just how comfortable they all seemed to be interacting with each other.

Of course, so far, they had just been getting to know each other, or catching up as it was between her and Oliver. They hadn't really talked about how they had all gotten there, what Chloe felt like she owed Alice to clarify. Even if her adoptive mother had told her everything she knew, she wanted to tell Alice herself, answer her questions and reassure her that it wasn't really what either one had wanted. She wanted to give her the opportunity she had never had with her own mother and above all, she wanted Alice to know that they did what they did not because they didn't love her, but because they did. And because they weren't given an option.

"Thank you for dinner," Chloe told both of them, smiling softly, "I can't remember the last time I had a home cooked meal."

Oliver met her eyes and smiled faintly. "We'll have to make sure that doesn't happen again."

"You really don't cook at all?" Alice asked her curiously.

Chloe shook her head and arched her eyebrows, "no, not really. I tried a couple of times but it was horrible. Microwave is as far as I go."

"Oh, I don't know. If I remember right you can handle frozen pizza pretty well," he teased her lightly.

She mock narrowed her eyes at him, "I can still do that too, but it's not as necessary in Metropolis with all the 24/7 pizza places."

He flashed her an innocent grin, holding his hands up. "Good point."

"How long has it been since you guys saw each other?" Alice asked.

Oliver fell silent for a moment, then glanced over at her. "Almost nineteen years," he said softly.

Her eyes widened as she looked between Chloe and Oliver, "Really?" she asked, surprised, "but you talked since then, right?"

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head, glancing at Oliver. "not really, it was... complicated."

He leaned against the counter, meeting her eyes for a moment before looking back at Alice. "We should probably talk about it," he admitted.

Nodding her agreement, Chloe sat up, resting her elbows over the table, "yeah, we should."

Alice chewed on her bottom lip and shrugged a little, "it's okay," she said quietly, looking down, "I mean, I know you were young when it happened and everything."

Oliver's chest tightened at the look on her face. "We were young. But things _were_ complicated, Alice," he whispered, slowly moving over to the table and sitting down across from Chloe. "And I think if you're willing to listen, Chloe and I would really appreciate the chance to explain things."

She considered him for a moment then nodded, shifting a little on her seat and taking a deep breath as she braced herself for it, "okay."

"Well," Chloe began, "we were still in high school at the time and... we had only been dating a couple of months when we found out about you."

* * *

**March 11, 2004**

_Oliver frowned, looking down at his phone once more. He'd texted Chloe over an hour ago when she hadn't shown up for school that morning, and he still hadn't heard back from her. And Chloe_ never _missed class. Needless to say, he was getting worried. As soon as the bell rang and he was dismissed from chemistry class, he glanced around the crowded halls and headed for the student parking lot. Within a few minutes he was driving across the small town and on his way to her house. He wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved that Mr. Sullivan's car wasn't in the driveway when he pulled up. Maybe she was sick, he thought, climbing out of his car and heading toward the front door. He knocked lightly, not wanting to wake her up if she was sick and asleep._

_Chloe stilled when she heard the knock from where she was in the living room. she rubbed her sleeves over her face to dry it and took a deep breath before approaching the door as silently as possible, hoping it was just the mailman or something but as she looked through the peephole, her stomach dropped and she stilled. Wondering if she could walk away from the door without him knowing she'd been there._

_He heard quiet footsteps approach the door and he frowned when it remained shut. "Chloe?" he called._

_She sighed deeply and deeply and dropped her head, resting her forehead against the door, "Yeah?" She asked tiredly._

_"Are you okay?" His frown deepened._

_Her chest tightened and her face crumbled slightly, "...yeah," she breathed._

_Oliver was silent for a moment. "It doesn't sound like it. Can I come in?"_

_Chloe remained quiet for a long moment then rubbed her hands over her face and took a deep breath and finally unlocked the door for him, he was going to know sooner or later, after all._

_His eyes were filled with worry when she opened the door and he stepped forward, searching her eyes. She was much paler than usual. Definitely sick, he thought. "Hey, I was worried about you," he said quietly, reaching out and touching her arm._

_Her eyes teared up a little as she looked at him and shook her head, turning to close and lock the door, "I'm okay," she whispered._

_Because tears were really convincing that everything was fine. He watched her for a moment. "Are you sick? I could make you some soup."_

_"No," Chloe shook her head again, rubbing a hand over her face, "I'm not sick." Even if she definitely felt sick._

_"Well, what's going on? Is your dad okay?" He stepped closer to her, shaking his head._

_"He's at work," she breathed, nodding a little but not looking at him._

_"Chloe, talk to me," he whispered, lifting a hand to her cheek._

_She kept her eyes down and took a deep breath, her heart racing, "let's... go sit down."_

_Oliver swallowed hard at that. That didn't sound good. A sense of dread washed over him. She was about to tell him she was breaking up with him. He rubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah, okay," he murmured, heading over to the sofa._

_Chloe sat down, sighing softly as she rubbed her hands over her face again, feeling slightly dizzy, but remained quiet._

_He hesitated, reaching out and resting his hand lightly on her back. "What is it?" he whispered._

_Her face crumbled once more and she took a deep breath, lowering her head more into her hands. She had no idea how to tell him. In a way she wished she had called him the previous night when she started suspecting it but she had wanted to make sure before scaring him too. But it hadn't been just a scare. They had been only dating for about four months now, she hadn't even considered this could happen and they_ were _careful since they started sleeping together about two months ago. Apparently not careful enough._

_"I'm pregnant." She muttered quietly against her hands._

_He blinked a few times, staring at her and wondering if he'd misheard her. But given her reaction, he had a feeling he'd heard her _exactly_ right. "Oh," he whispered._

_Her stomach dropped at the single word and she hunched more, not wanting to look at him right now._

_His mind was spinning with thoughts, but he shifted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her and pressing a kiss to her temple. Her face fell and she turned into him, wrapping her arms around him tightly as she turned her face against his chest._

_He quickly wound his other arm around her, as well, resting his chin atop her head as he shut his eyes. "Okay, we can deal with this," he murmured._

_Chloe shook her head slightly and took a deep breath, "no, we can't." She whispered, closing her eyes tightly._

_"We kind of have to," he said softly._

_"How?" She asked, tightening her hold on him._

_He kissed her forehead. "We're young, but...I have a lot of money. I can take care of us."_

_She opened her eyes wide and shook her head a little, "we can't take care of a baby, Oliver." She said quietly, terrified._

_He pulled away just enough to look at her, cupping her cheeks in his hands. "Look at me," he whispered. "We can do this. We can still go to school and graduate and everything, and I can hire a nanny to take care of the baby while we're there. We could even do some parenting classes or something."_

_Her eyes teared up more and she shook her head, pulling away from him, "no," she took a deep breath, "I'm sixteen, Oliver. You're seventeen. We can't even be responsible enough to have_ sex _, how are we supposed to have a baby?"_

_His chest tightened as she pulled away. "We were careful, Chloe. Things happen. It wasn't because we weren't responsible enough."_

_She stared at him for a moment then shook her head, "that doesn't mean we can raise a child," she pressed, "you just haven't had enough time to think about it."_

_He drew in a breath and nodded. "You're right. We need to think about things," he agreed, gazing at her intently. "Let's not make any quick decisions until we've had some time to think over all the repercussions of any choices we might make. Okay?"_

_Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, pursing her lips together and looking down again. "I don't think I can just... get rid of it." She admitted._

_Obvious relief flickered over his features and he nodded, exhaling slowly. "Good," he whispered._

_She lifted her head at his reaction and took a deep breath, looking at him again. At least something they agreed on. But their problem was far from solved._

* * *

Alice shifted on her seat and looked between the two of them, "you must have been terrified," she said quietly, looking over at Chloe.

"We were," she nodded a little, smiling slightly, "I was pretty sure my dad was going to kill me."

Oliver smiled but it was faint and didn't reach his eyes. "Your dad turned out to be the supportive one."

"Yeah, he was really good about it." Chloe agreed, taking a deep breath.

"What did he do?" Alice asked, looking between the two, it wasn't hard to notice it wasn't easy for them to talk about this, but they seemed to want to tell her everything so she kept asking questions to try and make it easier on them.

"He told us he'd stand behind whatever decision we made. After he threatened to kill me." He smiled a bit more, looking down at his hands.

"That's better than killing you," Alice said, smiling a little too and looking at Chloe, "does he still live in Smallville?"

She paused and shook her head a little, pursing her lips together, "he passed away two years ago." She told her, smiling sadly.

Oliver felt his chest tighten at the memory. He'd heard about Gabe Sullivan's death almost immediately thanks to Clark Kent, and while he'd wanted to go to the funeral, he didn't figure he would have been welcome.

Alice's face fell and she looked down, "sorry." She said quietly.

Chloe nodded and took a deep breath, "thank you." She told her, taking a deep breath, "anyway, we didn't tell anyone for a while."

"But it started to become obvious after a few weeks," Oliver said softly, looking down at his hands.

* * *

**May 5, 2004**

As soon as she got out of her English class, she made a beeline toward the office, her head down as she walked quickly down the hall and up the stairs, not really carrying who she bumped on. She just wanted to be out of there, away from people.

When she walked into the Torch, she closed the door and let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes as she turned and leaned back against it.

"Hey. Are you all right?" Oliver moved over to where she stood, his eyes wide. "Did something happen?"

She blinked and opened her eyes again, wide this time as she held her breath, she hadn't realized anyone was in there, but she was glad it was him. Chloe stared at him for a moment then shook her head, "I think they know."

"Who?" he asked, his voice dropping.

"Dawn and her Barbies," Chloe told him, swallowing hard as she pushed herself away from the door, "they were whispering when I walked past them on my way to class and I heard your name and Harmony sits next to me in English and she kept staring at me and texting."

He watched her for a moment. "What do you want me to do?" he asked quietly, reaching out and resting his hands on her shoulders.

"I don't know," she took a deep breath, "but I don't wanna stay here."

Oliver considered. "Let's leave then," he said quietly. "We'll go to Metropolis."

Chloe's eyes widened, "you mean that?" She gasped quietly.

He dipped his head and kissed her softly on the mouth. "Yes."

She closed her eyes and kissed him once more then took a deep breath, "we can stay with my cousin."

Oliver nodded slightly. "All right," he said softly.

"Really?" She asked quietly, holding her breath as she held his gaze.

"Chloe, I love you," he whispered. "If this is what you want to do, this is what we'll do."

She looked at him for a long moment then wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him close and closing her eyes, "I love you too." She whispered.

"We're gonna be okay," he whispered, hugging her tightly.

"We still need to figure out what we're going to do with the baby," she whispered, laying her head on his shoulder.

He held his breath for a moment. "We will," he promised.

Chloe kissed his cheek softly then pulled back to look at him. "I'll call her tonight and tell her." She said quietly, holding his gaze.

He nodded a little. "What do you say we get out of here? Go grab some lunch at the Talon?"

She took a deep breath and looked down then back at him, "can we just go to my house instead?" She asked, not wanting to be around her classmates.

"Yeah, sure," he whispered, kissing her cheek.

Chloe sighed deeply and leaned into him, closing her eyes again and just pulling him close. The more time she spent with him, the less the idea of them doing this together scared her.


	7. Chapter 7

Oliver blew out a breath as he finished cleaning up the kitchen a little while later. He was suddenly feeling very antsy, like he needed to go out and patrol. Which was out of the question considering both Chloe and Alice were still at his place and neither had any idea about his double life. It had been a good day, even though a lot of it had been very emotionally taxing. Part of him was scared to go back into the living room where they were now sitting, seated on the sofa together talking quietly. There were still things they needed to explain, to make sure Alice understood that they hadn't given her up because they didn't love her or hadn't wanted her. He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly, chewing the inside of his cheek.

"How are you doing?" Chloe asked Alice quietly, sipping on the hot chocolate Oliver had handed the two of them before he insisted on going to clean up the kitchen on his own. If Chloe were to guess, he was just looking for a break. Talking about everything and being honest with Alice wasn't easy on any of them, but it was better that they got it out of the way now so they could be a part of each other's lives. Finally.

"I'm okay," Alice assured her, leaning back against the sofa and offering her a small smile. She took a sip of her own hot chocolate, looking thoughtful. "You guys really loved each other, huh?"

Chloe's face fell a little and she nodded, looking down at her mug and taking a deep breath, "first and only time I ever fell in love," she admitted in a whisper so Oliver wouldn't hear her.

She watched her closely, chewing on her lower lip. "You still have feelings for him, don't you?"

Pausing, Chloe took a deep breath and looked over at Alice, "it's good to see him again," she said quietly, "but it's the first time I'm seeing him in almost two decades, it's probably too soon to try to figure anything out." She said, not wanting to give her an answer since Chloe had no idea what she was feeling. It had been an incredibly long and emotional day.

"Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, you don't want to get hurt or get your hopes up." She took another sip of her cocoa.

"Like I said," Chloe whispered, "it's been a really long time, we're different people now."

"Maybe." Alice smiled a little. "Should one of us go check on him? He's been in there awhile..."

"Probably." She smiled softly at her then stood up, setting her mug on the coffee table before starting toward the kitchen quietly.

Oliver was staring blankly down at the kitchen sink when he heard footsteps approaching. He quickly looked up and turned to see Chloe. "Hey. Almost done."

Chloe paused and pursed her lips together, he hadn't moved fast enough and she had noticed him just standing there, "anything I can help with?"

He smiled a little, and shook his head. "I kinda spaced out for a minute," he admitted.

"It's been a long day," she said quietly then paused, "maybe I should drive Alice back and we can talk tomorrow."

"No," he said quickly, shaking his head. "No, unless...you think that's what's best." He suddenly looked uncertain.

"You just look exhausted," she admitted, watching him closely. "I don't want it to be too much for you."

"I am tired," he admitted, gazing at her. "But I don't want you to leave."

Her chest tightened and she nodded a little, taking a deep breath as she held his gaze, "let's just get this out of the way." She suggested quietly, stopping herself from holding her hand out to him.

Oliver nodded slightly. "Yeah." He drew in a breath, as well, glancing toward the living room. "Is she okay?" His voice dropped.

"Seems to be doing better than the rest of us," Chloe admitted, arching her eyebrows a little.

He shifted his gaze back to her face. "Are _you_ all right, Chloe?"

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, "yeah. I mean, I will need some time to process everything, but... I'm just glad to be around you two."

His expression softened at that and he hesitantly reached out, touching her arm. "Me too."

Her face softened too and she held his gaze, nodding slightly and this time, reaching for his hand and squeezing it a little. "Come on."

Drawing in a breath, he nodded, following her toward the living room silently.

Just as they made their way in, Chloe squeezed his hand lightly then let go of it, mostly because she didn't want to give Alice the wrong idea. "Okay." She said quietly, picking up her mug before sitting back down and taking a deep breath, "I think we're ready to continue."

Oliver sat down slowly in the recliner, but sat on the very edge of it, resting his elbows on his knees. "We were all set to leave Smallville together..."

* * *

**May 13, 2004**

_Chloe's heart was beating fast as she drove up to Oliver's house. She had barely gotten any sleep at all but she was wide awake. Classes had just ended and her dad had helped her pack her car with the promise that he would head for Metropolis the following weekend to help them settle in and make sure everything was okay as well as to apply for a transfer back to the Metropolis branch of LuthorCorp._

_But they had to get there first and despite the three hour talk she'd had with Lois the previous day and how much her cousin was supportive and reassured her, she was still incredibly nervous. Mostly due to the decision she had managed to reach the previous night and something she had to talk to Oliver about still._

_She got out of her car and quickly made her way to the familiar front door, ringing the bell before anxiously opening the door. Technically he owned the place and the caretaker was just his employee anyway. "Oliver?" She called._

_He was heading down the stairs as she called his name. "Hey," he greeted her, raising his eyebrows a little and setting his suitcase down on the floor at the bottom of the steps, moving over to hug her._

_Chloe wrapped her arms around him and took a deep breath, "are you ready?"_

_"Yeah, I'm ready," he assured her softly, hugging her tightly and kissing her temple._

_She brushed her nose against his cheek then leaned in and turned her head before kissing him softly._

_"Come on," he whispered against her mouth, reaching down and taking her hand._

_"Wait," she whispered back, pulling back enough to look at him and taking a deep breath, "I-- need to talk to you."_

_He paused, gazing at her for a moment. "What is it?"_

_"I made up my mind," she said quietly, searching his eyes._

_Oliver held his breath, gazing at her intently and then swallowing hard. "Okay," he whispered._

_"I think," she took a deep breath, "I think that as long as you're in this with me, maybe we can do it," she told him, her voice a little firmer, "I know I can't do it without you but since I told you about the baby, you just... you make me feel like we can do this."_

_His eyes widened a little and he nodded quickly. "We can," he whispered. "We can do this, Chloe. We can be a family."_

_Chloe swallowed hard and nodded, her eyes tearing up, "it's scary," she whispered, "but... I want us to try."_

_He kissed her cheek softly. "I'll be with you the whole time. Through all of it," he whispered back._

_"With us?" She swallowed hard, "you promise you're not going to leave?"_

_"I swear to you," he told her, searching her eyes._

_Her eyes teared up and she nodded slightly before leaning in and kissing him deeply._

_He returned the kiss without hesitation, starting when someone cleared their throat behind them._

_"What the_ hell _is going on here?"_

_Chloe stilled and broke the kiss, pulling away from him and staring at the other woman but didn't say anything. She always had the impression she didn't like her._

_"Did I hear correctly? You're_ pregnant _?" Rose's eyes narrowed, her lips pursed and her jaw tight._

_Oliver turned to face her. "Yes. We're having a baby," he informed her evenly._

_Glancing at Oliver for a second, Chloe forced herself to look at the woman again, "we already took care of everything."_

_"By that, I do hope you mean you're planning to do the responsible, right thing and put this child up for adoption as soon as it's born." She folded her arms across her chest._

_Her jaw tightened and she stared at the woman, "we're taking care of it," she said firmly before glancing at Ollie._

_"You are both _far_ too young to raise a child," she informed them, turning her attention to Oliver._

_His jaw tightened, as well, and he squeezed Chloe's hand gently. "This isn't your decision," he told her coolly._

_"Let's go, Ollie." Chloe said, reaching for his hand and pulling him toward the door even as she kept her eyes on the woman._

_"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere," a male voice said from behind them._

_Oliver turned to see Rose's husband standing there, looking at them intently. "You can't keep us here."_

_"Actually, we can. You're both underage."_

_"My dad knows we're going," Chloe told the woman, her grip tight around Oliver's hand, "and neither of you are his parents."_

_"No, we're not. But we are his guardians, which means until he is legally an adult, we are the ones responsible for the decisions he makes." Rose glared at Chloe._

_"I'm seventeen years old," Oliver said coldly. "And we've already made our decision. We're having this baby together."_

_"What are you going to do? Lock him up until he's eighteen?" Chloe dared, "you can't keep him away from his baby since it will be his only _real_ family!" She told them firmly but loudly this time as she got more and more afraid of what they would do._

_Rose nodded slightly and her husband moved forward, grabbing hold of Oliver and shoving him hard toward the stairs. "Go to your room."_

_"Let go of him!" She yelled at the much bigger man, not letting go of Oliver's hand._

_Oliver turned, swinging his free arm and hitting the other man with his fist._

_The man grabbed his hand easily and held on to it, pulling the boy away from Chloe effortlessly._

_"Let go of me!" he ordered._

_Chloe's jaw set and she stepped forward, grabbing onto the man's arm, "let go of him! I'll call the police!" She threatened._

_The man shook her off his arm and hauled Oliver toward the stairs without responding. "Upstairs, now," he ordered._

_He looked over his shoulder. "I'll call you," he told Chloe. "It'll be fine!"_

_Her eyes teared up as she looked at him, even as the woman started pulling her towards the door, "I'll be back soon," she promised. As soon as she got her dad._

_"Go home, Chloe," Rose said coldly. "We'll be in touch soon."_

_Chloe glared up at her and shrugged her hand from her shoulder, "he better not hurt him," she said tightly before making her way to the door quickly._

_Rose folded her arms across her chest as she stared at the younger woman, watching her head out the door._

* * *

Chloe sighed softly and leaned back against the couch, "that was the last time we saw each other." She told Alice, glancing over at Oliver.

He was staring down at his hands silently as Chloe finished the story. "Until today."

"What do you mean?" Alice frowned, shaking her head slightly, "what happened?"

"Well," Chloe took a deep breath and looked at her again, "by the time I got back to his house with my dad, they were gone and instead of Oliver, they had one of the Queen Industries lawyers there to talk to me."

Oliver looked up at that, holding his breath. They'd never told him the details of what happened after they'd taken him back to Star City. They'd confiscated his cell phone and monitored him around the clock to make sure he couldn't contact her.

"It was just a legal process after that," Chloe said quietly, looking down at her lap.

He swallowed hard, his chest feeling tight. He rubbed a hand over his face, then looked down once more, as well.

Alice looked between the two of them for a moment then back at Chloe, "what did they do? The lawyers, I mean."

She remained quiet for a moment then took a deep breath, "they made sure Oliver's name wasn't connected to anything at all, they made us sign a lot of contracts, me and my dad. They never knew that my cousin knew the whole story. And they set up the adoption..." Chloe paused at that and looked down, feeling like it was better if she didn't go into detail. "At that point, I thought it was the best choice because without Ollie, I really didn't think I was going to be able to take good care of you."

Oliver let out a breath, rising to his feet and moving to stand over at the glass doors that led to the balcony, staring out blankly over the city. He had suspicions that he wasn't going to voice in front of Alice, but they gnawed at him incessantly, as they always had. He leaned his head against the glass panes.

Chloe watched him for a long moment then turned to Alice and smiled slightly even though she had tears in her eyes. "Then I met the Johnsons and I felt like they were good people, like they were going to be able to raise you the way you deserved."

"And from what I can tell, they did a great job," Oliver said softly, glancing over his shoulder to Alice.

Alice nodded slightly and pursed her lips together, her own eyes tearing up a little when she looked at Chloe then at Oliver, "thanks for telling me all this."

His chest tightened a little. "Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded again, "yeah," she said quietly, "just sorry that you had to go through all of that."

Chloe shook her head a little, "it was a long time ago," she said, lifting a hand to Alice's shoulder, "and getting to see you now and see what an amazing person you became, makes me feel like it was the right choice." She told her quietly.

Oliver swallowed hard. "And you have turned out amazing."

Alice looked between the two of them then hunched a little and nodded, "thank you."

With a deep breath, Chloe shifted closer and wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulders, "thank you for bringing the three of us back together."


	8. Chapter 8

To say that the previous day had been incredibly emotional didn't begin to cover it. The two of them had driven Alice back to the dorms at almost one in the morning and during the drive back, they agreed to meet today after work since there were some things that they needed to talk about still.

Chloe had barely been able to sleep and the entire day at work had been a blur. She was glad it was Friday and she was done with all the work that had deadlines in the next three days so she would be able to take time off and focus on Ollie and Alice. Lois had, of course, demanded to know everything that had happened and Chloe had told her as well as she could and had left her with the promise that she would talk to Alice about meeting 'Aunt Lois' in the near future.

It was just past five when Chloe left the Planet and made her way over to her apartment, after a quick shower and changing into more comfortable clothes, she crossed the street to the Clocktower and once Oliver buzzed her in, she made her way upstairs. Alice had a freshmen integration party that night and had promised to call them if she wanted to leave or just didn't feel like hanging out on campus, but Chloe didn't think she would be calling anytime soon, if she called at all.

Once the elevator reached the top floor, she pushed the gate open like she had the previous time and smiled softly when she saw him standing there, "hey." She greeted, feeling a lot more comfortable and relaxed than she had the previous day when she first went to meet him.

"Hey," he greeted her, nodding a little. "How was work?"

"Not bad," Chloe told him, "not very busy. What about yours? Did you go into this branch?"

He nodded again. "Yeah. It actually kept me pretty busy." Which he was grateful for. He needed the mental break and throwing himself into work had been good for that.

"That's good, I guess it's been a while since you've been in town," she told him, adjusting her purse over his shoulder.

"A very long time," he said softly, meeting her eyes.

Chloe held his gaze and took a deep breath, "how are you doing?" She asked quietly.

He was silent for a moment, contemplating how to answer that. "I'm all right," he said after a few seconds. "How are _you_ doing?"

"Okay," she nodded slightly then smiling softly, "I updated Lois this morning and she wants to see you and meet Alice as soon as possible."

"I think Alice will like that," he told her. Without thinking about it, he moved, resting a hand at the small of her back. "Do you want something to drink? Or eat? There's still left over lasagna or I could make something else. Or we could order in."

"Why don't we just order something?" She suggested, completely comfortable with the closeness. "I think you need a break after last night."

"It had been awhile," he admitted. "What sounds good?"

"Pizza, Chinese, Thai, I'm okay with any of those," she nodded slightly, "and we have them all within a block so it's still pretty fresh when it gets here."

"Good to know. Well, we did Italian last night. How about Chinese?" he suggested.

"Chinese works, there's a pretty decent place around the corner, do you need to see a menu?" Chloe asked, fishing her phone out of her purse.

"Ah, no. I'm sure they have eggrolls and fried rice?"

"Of course," she grinned softly, "chicken fried rice?" She asked, suddenly remembering that that was what he used to have when they went to the only Chinese restaurant in Grandville.

"Some things never change," he said softly.

Her face softened and she looked at him for a moment, "give me a second," she told him, quietly dialing to the restaurant to place their orders.

He watched her for a moment, drawing in a breath and letting it out slowly.

Chloe hung up a moment later and turned to face him, "about twenty minutes," she said, pausing when she realized he was watching her.

He smiled back a little, nodding. "Sounds good. Do you want something to drink while we wait?" he offered.

"Sure," she nodded, dropping her phone back in her purse.

"I have water, tea, lemonade, soda...and I could make some coffee." He raised his eyebrows.

"Soda will work, although I might take you up on the coffee after dinner." Chloe said, arching her eyebrows.

"I thought you might," he admitted. Which was why he'd bought several different kinds and stocked his kitchen cabinets with them, as well as buying a cappuccino maker.

Her face softened and she nodded a little, "like you said, some things don't change."

"I think sometimes that's a good thing." He smiled softly, ducking his head and turning to move into the kitchen.

Chloe dropped her purse over the loveseat and followed him, "I agree."

"Have you talked to Alice today?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," she admitted then shook her head, "I haven't, have you?"

"No, I haven't either," he said softly. He chewed the inside of his cheek.

"She probably needs some time," Chloe said quietly, looking down, "we told her a lot yesterday."

"Do you think it was too much?" he asked worriedly.

"She seemed okay when we went to drop her off." She told him, looking over at him, "if we don't hear from her tonight, we can check in tomorrow."

"Yeah, that sounds good." He pulled a couple cans of soda from his fridge and held one out to her.

"Thank you," she said as she took the can from him, "I think she just needs time, she seemed to enjoy hanging out with us last night."

"Hopefully," he agreed, nodding and glancing down at their hands as their fingers brushed together.

Her chest tightened as she looked down too, but stopped herself from holding on to his hand, "can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, absolutely," he said without hesitation. "What is it?"

"What happened?" She took a deep breath, looking back at him, "when you vanished."

Oliver was silent for a moment. "You mean when I was on the island?"

"No," Chloe shook her head slightly, "when Rose and her husband took you, what did they do to you?"

He leaned back against the counter. "Well, they confiscated my phone access, for one," he said quietly, looking down.

She reached for his arm and nodded a little, heading to the couch, "I kinda figured they had done that."

He followed her silently, then sat down beside her on the sofa. "They didn't _hurt_ me, physically," he told her, glancing at her.

Chloe let out her breath and nodded slightly, glancing at him, "good," she whispered, nodding again, "I'm glad they didn't..."

He gazed at her for a moment. "They forced you into giving her up, didn't they?"

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly, "in a lot of ways, yes."

He shut his eyes, nodding and leaning his elbows on his knees. "I kinda suspected that."

"The lawyer just... started the process, found Alice's parents and threatened to blacklist dad and I if we ever told anyone you were involved," she whispered, holding his gaze.

"Chloe, I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"It's not your fault, Ollie." She took a deep breath and turned slightly on the couch toward him, "I knew that you would have stopped them if you could have."

"I should have been able to." He rubbed his hands over his face tiredly.

"And I should have fought back and kept her," she said quietly, watching him closely.

"No. This isn't your fault, Chloe." He shook his head.

Her chest tightened at his words and she nodded slightly, "it's not yours, either."

Oliver was silent for a moment, then he glanced at her sideways, chewing the inside of his cheek.

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at him, "you thought I did." She said quietly.

"No." He shook his head a little. "Like I said, I suspected they made you."

"I thought you thought I had done it," she admitted, "even though I had told you I wanted us to keep her."

He reached out and touched her cheek. "No." He sighed softly.

Chloe held her breath and nodded slightly, searching his eyes. "Now I know."

"I've never blamed you, Chloe," he whispered.

She let out a breath and looked down, "I wanted to call you," she whispered, "to find you, especially after you got back from the island, but I didn't know."

His chest tightened. "They wanted me dead." His voice was quiet.

Chloe stilled at that, her eyes widening instantly, "what? Who?"

"Rose and her husband John." His jaw tightened a little.

She sat up, looking up at him, "they did that?" She asked, "to your boat?"

"Yeah. They did that." He let out a breath.

"Oliver, I'm so sorry," she whispered, reaching for his hand, her eyes wide with worry, "I had no idea they were trying to hurt you..."

"It's not your fault, Chloe."

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head a little, "I'm just glad they didn't succeed," she whispered, watching him closely. Thinking he had been gone just a couple of years after giving up Alice had been almost too much for her to handle, knowing that those two things were connected because of that woman and her husband... she couldn't help but feel angry and wish she had known this before. It would have changed everything.

"Me too." He gazed at her intently. "But I'm okay. And they're both gone now anyway."

"Gone?" She frowned a little, holding his gaze, her heart beating a little faster, "what happened to them?"

"Armed robbery. It happened while I was on the island," he said quietly.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slightly, her jaw tightening slightly, "better that way."

"I agree," he said, exhaling.

She looked at him for a moment then down at his hand that she was still holding and squeezed it a little, "we never should have gone this long without contacting each other," she whispered.

He laced his fingers through hers, squeezing her hand in return. "I've really missed you," he confessed.

"I missed you too," she said quietly, looking back at him.

He hesitantly wound his other arm around her, pulling her closer to him and hugging her.

Chloe turned toward him, wrapping her free arm around his front and shifting closer to him on the couch.

He rested his head against hers, and started to say something when the buzzer sounded loudly, alerting him to someone at the door downstairs. "That must be our food."

She took a deep breath and nodded slightly, reluctantly pulling away from him, "I'll go get it." She said quietly as she stood up.

"It's okay," he assured her. "I've got it."

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little and kept her eyes on him.

He rose to his feet, offering her a small, gentle smile, then heading toward the elevator.

With a deep breath, she watched him for a moment then reached for her phone in her purse to see if Alice had called. She had no idea what to make of what she was feeling while around Oliver, but she wasn't even going to begin to try to figure out. Not yet anyway, right now she just wanted to catch up with him and enjoy his company again.

* * *

Once more, dinner had been nice, but a lot quieter than the previous night. They had found their way back to the couch after Chloe insisted on doing the dishes this time. After she sat down, she checked on her phone once more and took a deep breath, it was past ten already. "I guess the party is going well if she hasn't called yet."

"Yeah, I guess so," he agreed, watching her.

She dropped her phone back in her purse then turned to look at him again, "are you tired?"

"You could say I'm sort of a night owl," he told her with a small smile.

Her face softened and she nodded a little, "ditto," she said quietly, watching him.

He was quiet for a moment. "You want to watch a movie or something?"

"We can do that," she said quietly, keeping her eyes on him then taking a deep breath, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed. "What makes you think you are?"

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head a little, "it's been a long time since we spent time together. And I know there is a lot we still have to work through..." she said quietly.

"There is. But I'm not uncomfortable, Chloe," he said softly.

"Okay," she nodded slightly, searching his face, "I just wanted to make sure."

"Am I making _you_ uncomfortable?"

"No," she said quietly, shaking her head, "not at all. I just... I know we've both changed and I don't want you to feel like this is too much."

"I think we'll be all right. We'll just take things one day at a time," he said quietly.

Chloe nodded slightly, taking a deep breath, "probably the best way to go about this."

Oliver gazed intently at her, his gaze dropping to her mouth involuntarily.

She held her breath and watched him closely then looked down for a second before looking back at him. Swallowing hard, he shifted closer to her, reaching out and tucking some hair behind her ear.

Her face softened and her heart skipped a beat as she reached up and touched his arm. She had seen that look on his face before, it had been a very long time, but she remembered it well.

"Hi," he whispered as he shifted closer to her again, searching her eyes.

"Hi." She said quietly, brushing her fingers over his arm.

"You are still just as beautiful as I remember," he murmured, brushing his nose lightly against hers.

Chloe's chest tightened painfully and she held her breath, searching his eyes as well as she could. "You are even more gorgeous now." She whispered.

Oliver hesitantly brushed his lips over hers, wrapping his other arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to him. She pressed her lips back to his, closing her eyes and dropping her hand to his side then pausing when she heard something that sounded like an alarm going off somewhere in his apartment.

He groaned involuntarily, leaning his head against hers and sighing softly. "I'll be right back," he whispered, rising to his feet and heading for the bedroom.

With a deep breath, she nodded slightly and shifted on the couch, rubbing her hands over her face. Yeah, one day at a time was clearly going to work.

He returned to her a few moments later, his expression more serious than before. "I'm so sorry. There's been a bit of a Queen Industries crisis that I have to attend to." He looked regretful.

"Oh," her eyes widened and she stood up, "of course-- is there anything I can do?"

"No, I don't think so." He smiled, but it was faint. "Can I call you in the morning?"

"Yeah." Chloe nodded, looking at him still, "I'll text you if Alice calls me and let you know."

"Thank you. I appreciate that." He held his hands out to her.

She held her breath and took a step closer and slid her hands in his, "let me know if you need help with anything." She told him quietly.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, searching her eyes. He leaned down, kissing her cheek softly.

She squeezed his hands and kissed his cheek too before reluctantly pulling away, "I'll talk to you soon."

"Definitely," he agreed, gazing at her intently.

Her chest tightened again and she nodded slightly, "good luck," she whispered, letting go of his hands and grabbing her purse from the coffee table.

"Thank you," he said softly, watching as she headed for the elevator.

He was going to need it.


	9. Chapter 9

Oliver was exhausted.

He'd spent the majority of the previous night and half the morning chasing Clark Kent's super-powered ass all around Metropolis. Apparently while the other man had been busting up a drug ring, he'd wound up infected with red meteor rock dust and had gone a crime spree of his own, including setting fire to a couple buildings, and when Oliver had finally gotten close enough to stop him with the green rocks, Clark had managed to land a hit against his ribs, and one on his jaw before growing powerless from the Kryptonite.

He'd barely slept, and he probably should have been checked out by a doctor, but he wasn't about to go to the hospital and tell someone he'd had his ass kicked. He made his way toward the elevator, his eyebrows furrowing as he spotted Alice opening the gates. Immediately his chest tightened when he caught sight of the frightened look on her face.

"Oliver?" she gasped, her eyes wide as she swallowed when she saw him. He looked horrible.

"Hey. Are you all right?" He frowned worriedly, moving closer to her.

Nodding slightly, she shifted a large backpack over her shoulder, "sorry I just came by... I tried calling but you weren't picking up and neither was Chloe and... I didn't know where else to go."

"What's going on?" He reached his hand out, offering silently to take her backpack.

"They evacuated the dorms," she whispered, handing him the bag. "There was a fire..."

He held his breath for a moment, swallowing hard. "Is everyone all right?"

"Yeah," Alice took a deep breath, "they set up a shelter in the stadium but-- I thought other people might need it more than me and then I couldn't reach you or Chloe. I didn't know if something had happened."

"Chloe's okay," he said softly. "I texted her a little while ago. She's coming over later. Are you hungry? I could make some breakfast."

"Oh," she breathed in relief then shook her head slightly, "not hungry," she looked at him again, "do you know what happened? Some people said they saw Superman setting the Met U tower on fire."

"No," he said, shaking his head quickly. "I haven't had the news on today yet. Doesn't really sound like something Superman would do, though."

Alice took a deep breath and nodded slightly, looking down and rubbing her hands over her face. "I hope it wasn't him."

"I'm sure it wasn't," he said softly.

She looked over at him once more and pursed her lips together, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all right. Do you uh--do you want me to set you up one of my guest rooms?"

Chewing on the inside of her mouth, she nodded slightly. "Do you mind?"

"No, not at all," he assured her quickly.

"Thanks." She took a deep breath, "I'm sure they won't be long, they will probably have us back in tomorrow."

"If they don't, you're more than welcome to stay here as long as you need," he told her.

Alice nodded slightly and took a deep breath, "are you sure you're okay?" She asked again.

It dawned on him why she was asking; the large bruise on his jaw had already shown up from where Clark had punched him. He was just grateful that the alien had been weakened enough by the kryptonite that he hadn't broken Oliver's jaw. "Yeah, I...got mugged last night." He sighed inwardly. Great. And now his daughter would think he was the biggest loser on the planet.

Her eyes widened with worry at that, "you did?" She gasped, "what happened?"

"I was heading to the local branch of QI to deal with an overseas emergency and got jumped halfway there. It's not a big deal," he told her. "I'm all right."

"Did you see a doctor?" She asked quietly, pursing her lips together.

"No, like I said. I'm all right. Looks worse than it is."

Alice looked down then back at him and nodded slightly, "okay."

"I promise," he added, taking a step toward her.

With a deep breath, she relaxed slightly, "okay," she repeated, "thank you for letting me stay."

"Absolutely. Come on, I'll show you to your room." He smiled faintly and held his arm out for her.

Alice took his arm and stepped closer to him, "do you mind if I borrow your phone?" She asked. "My battery died on the way here and my- hm, mom is probably worried."

"Yeah, sure thing," he said softly. "I'll grab it when we get to your room." He led her down the hallway to the room a couple doors down from his and flipped on the light.

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the _size_ of the room, "this is your guest room?" She gasped, glancing at the connecting bathroom and she was pretty sure the bathtub in there was bigger than her half of the dorm.

"One of them?" His response was more of a question than an answer.

"Woah," she said quietly, stepping further inside, "it's huge."

He rubbed the back of his neck with a small smile. "It's all yours for however long you need it."

With a deep breath, she nodded slightly, "thank you," she turned to face him again, "really."

"You're really welcome," he said sincerely. "I'll go grab my phone." He smiled softly and headed down the hall to his bedroom, picking his cell phone off the side table.

"Thanks," she called after him then pulled her own phone and charger from the backpack and started around the room to find a plug.

He returned to the room a moment later, watching her. "There's a plug in by the dresser," he told her, nodding toward it even as he held up his cell.

"Oh," she glanced at the dresser and plugged in her phone, "thanks." She told him before reaching for the phone, stilling when it started to ring and holding her breath as she read the name on the screen, "oh, it's Chloe."

He smiled faintly at that. "Sorry," he apologized, taking the phone back from her and placing it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Oliver," she breathed, "have you heard from Alice? There was a fire on campus and she called me but I was at Lois' and I must have missed the call. I'm headed to Met U right now to see if I can find her, but did you hear from her? Do you know if she's okay?" She asked quickly as she sped through a red light on her way to the University.

"She's fine," he said quickly. "She's here, actually." He raised his eyebrows a little and glanced at the younger blond. "She couldn't get a hold of either of us on our phones, so she came here."

"...Oh." She paused. Slowing down and taking a deep breath. "Okay. Good. And she's okay? She's not hurt?"

Alice arched her eyebrows, having heard the long string of words coming from the other side but being unable to make sense of them.

"She's okay," he assured her. "Why don't you come over? You can see for yourself."

"Thank you," she said, relieved. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"See you soon," he told her, hanging up the phone and glancing up at Alice. "She just heard the news about the campus fire."

"Oh," Alice nodded a little. "I guess I should have left her a voicemail when I called."

He smiled. "Live and learn." He held the phone out to her once more. "I know you said you weren't hungry, but...do you want some coffee or something?" 

She smiled a little at that and nodded, taking the phone, "I'll take coffee."

"How do you take it? And uh--any specific flavor? I have a lot of different kinds."

"Oh, hm, do you have any caramel flavored creamer? Or syrup?" She asked, chewing on the inside of her mouth.

He smiled at that. "I have both."

"Oh, cool. I'll take the creamer, thank you." She said quietly, smiling softly. "But I can make my own."

"If you're sure. I don't mind." He gazed at her, his expression filled with warmth.

"You're doing a lot already," she said quietly, smiling softly at him, "thank you."

Oliver leaned against the door frame. "You're welcome," he said just as quietly. He looked down for a moment, then back up at her. "I hope we didn't overwhelm you the other night."

Alice paused at that and shrugged, "a little," she admitted, smiling softly, "but I don't mind, I mean, I wanted to know what happened and hm, why."

His chest tightened a little and he nodded. "I just never want you to think that we didn't want you. Or that we didn't love you," he whispered.

She looked down at that and pursed her lips together, nodding too, "thanks." She said quietly, "that's... good to hear." She admitted in a small voice.

Swallowing hard, Oliver bit his lower lip. "All right, I'll go pull out the coffee stuff," he murmured, turning to head away.

With a deep breath, she looked down at the phone and called her mom, reaching for the door and closing it halfway for some privacy.

* * *

Chloe made it back downtown as fast as she could manage with how insane the traffic was because of the fires. It was a Saturday and things had been _bad_ the previous night. Just as she was crossing the street to head to her own apartment, she had gotten a phone call from a very frantic Lois saying Clark had gone crazy. She had been there all night, doing her best to calm her cousin down and icing the bruises she'd had on her arm and ribs. In the meanwhile, Lois had to stop Chloe from going after Clark herself, telling her she had already contacted the League and that they were working on it.

Even after Clark made his way back and apologized, Chloe stayed to make sure her cousin was okay. It wasn't until Lois was asleep in the Kent's guest room and Clark in the master bedroom that Chloe finally left. And that had been when she'd seen the missed call from Alice and knowing about the fact that Clark had set half of the campus on fire, that had really scared her. Especially considering she had barely gotten any sleep in the last couple of days.

But that didn't matter, what did matter was that as far as she knew, Lois, Alice, Oliver and even Clark were all safe and for the time being, so was Metropolis.

She made her way to the top floor of the Clocktower and took a deep breath as the elevator pulled to stop then pushed the gate out of the way, "Oliver? Alice?" She called, looking around the apartment. She would definitely feel better once she saw her daughter and made sure she was in once piece.

"Hey, come on in." Oliver looked up from where he was sitting at his desk, closing his laptop. "She's using the phone in the guest room."

Chloe took a deep breath when she saw him and relaxed a little, "good, I'm glad she made it here okay. It's crazy out there."

"Yeah, I know it is," he said softly, moving toward her. "There's coffee."

Her face softened a little and she nodded, "one of the best things I've heard today."

He smiled at that. "Come on," he told her, holding his hand out toward her.

Chloe smiled a little too and held his hand then took another deep breath, "they shut down the dorms, did she tell you?"

"Yeah, she told me. It sounded pretty scary."

Nodding slightly, she squeezed his hand then stilled, her eyes widening when she noticed the bruise on his face, "what happened to you?" She whispered, stepping closer and lifting her free hand to the unbruised side of his face.

He winced involuntarily. "I uh--ran into a little trouble last night."

She tensed once more at that, her eyes widening even more, "what happened?"

"I got mugged," he admitted. "But it's no big deal. I'm all right."

"It looks pretty painful," she admitted, looking at the bruise then holding his gaze, "are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No, I'm okay," he assured her.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slightly, "if you need to go see a doctor, I don't mind taking you."

He lifted a hand to her cheek. "You're worrying too much," he said softly.

Her face softened a little and she pursed her lips together, "a lot happened last night, it seems. I just need to make sure you're all okay."

Oliver leaned in, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. "Yeah, it was a crazy night," he agreed quietly. "But I promise I'm all right."

Chloe leaned into his touch and closed her eyes, "good, I'm glad the two of you are okay."

"Go ahead," he told her gently. "She's down the hall, second door on the right." He knew she wanted to make sure with her own eyes.

She looked up at him and nodded slightly, "thank you," she said quietly before pulling away from him and starting down the hallway.

Oliver watched her head away, his shoulders slumping a little as he rubbed a hand over his face. What the hell was he doing? What he did was _dangerous_. Getting involved in Alice's life, and Chloe's wasn't a good idea, and he damn well knew it. Being around him could be--and _would_ be hazardous to their health. His chest tightened at the thought of walking away from them, and he slowly moved to sit down at his desk once more, staring blankly at his land line telephone. He glanced toward the hallway, listened closely and heard the soft murmur of voices from Alice's room. Then he reached out and picked up the telephone.

* * *

Chloe knocked lightly on the door and arched her eyebrows, "Alice?" She called, stopping herself from poking her head inside the room.

A second later, the door opened the rest of the way and Alice smiled a little. "Hi. Oliver said you were coming over."

"Yeah," she nodded and smiled softly, "I wanted to make sure you were okay, I'm really sorry I missed your call."

"It's okay. I was just a little freaked out," she admitted.

"I don't blame you," she said quietly, watching her closely, "are you staying here while the dorms are closed?"

She hesitated. "Well, Oliver said it was okay and...he has all this room..."

"Oh," Chloe shook her head, "I was just curious, I'm sure it will be good for you, spend some more time together and get to know each other better." She told her, smiling slightly even as her chest tightened.

"But you'll be here a lot anyway, right?" Alice raised her eyebrows. "So we can all spend time together."

Her face softened and Chloe nodded slightly, "yeah," she smiled a little more, "I will definitely be around."

"Good," she said with a smile of her own, one that was a near mirror image of Chloe's.

Chloe watched her for a moment then nodded behind herself, "Ollie promised coffee, why don't we go check on that?"

She nodded quickly, eyes brightening. "I already had a cup, but I'm ready for my second."

She couldn't help but grin softly at that as she stepped closer and linked her arm with Alice's. She would have wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder if she hadn't been taller than her, but apparently she had gotten the same height gene as Lois. Or from Oliver's side. "Well, the coffee addiction definitely runs in the family. On my side anyway."

"Yeah, I don't think Oliver really drinks it," she admitted, glancing up at Chloe with raised eyebrows as they headed out of the guest room and toward the kitchen.

"He doesn't," Chloe told her, "at least I've never seen him drinking it."

Alice cocked her head to the side. "Weird."

Chloe grinned more at that and nodded, "I know." She arched her eyebrows then looked around the living room, pausing when she saw Oliver sitting by his computer.

She paused, too, glancing at Chloe curiously and then over at Oliver, whose back was to them, telephone pressed to his ear.

Frowning slightly at Oliver's expression, Chloe nudged Alice toward the kitchen, "why don't we go get that coffee?"

Alice glanced at her once more and nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Nodding slightly, she led the girl to the kitchen even as she glanced over her shoulder and at Oliver again. Something was definitely wrong. 

* * *

Oliver's expression was troubled as he stared out over Metropolis from the balcony later that evening. The three of them had spent the day together, had eaten dinner together and spent the time talking and getting to know one another better. Some part of him knew that he was just making it harder on himself in the long run; he couldn't be a part of their lives. And acting like he could was only going to make things worse for all of them in the long run. He sighed softly, leaning on the railing and shutting his eyes for a moment. He heard soft footsteps approaching, and knew without turning around that it was Chloe. Alice had gone to bed awhile ago, and Chloe had gone home to shower and change clothes before returning.

Normally she would feel like this wasn't her place to butt in, like if Oliver needed help, he would ask for it. But even after all this time, she knew him too well to be able to shrug it off. She knew something was bothering him and she knew even Alice had noticed, which was why the girl made the excuse to go to bed early, so that Chloe could talk to him. If he had a problem and if they were going to be in each others' lives like they had been the past few days, she felt like she needed to at least offer to help him with whatever it was. "Ollie?" She called quietly, walking up to him.

"Hey." He turned a little, glancing back at her and offering her a faint smile.

"Hey," she said quietly, stopping next to him, "thanks for letting me come back."

"No problem," he assured her.

"Do you mind if we talk?" She asked quietly, holding his gaze.

He held his breath for a moment. "Sure. What's up?"

Chloe held her breath too and pursed her lips together, "I don't want to overstep anything but... you seemed a little off tonight. Is something going on?"

Oliver hesitated a moment. "It looks like I'll be having to go back to Star City sooner than expected."

Her stomach dropped at that and she felt like she had just been slapped, "oh." Was all she could say.

He winced at the look on her face. "It's just...I have business back there that I can't take an indefinite leave from," he said softly.

"Right," she nodded a little and forced herself to take a deep breath as she turned her head just slightly so she wasn't looking at him, "that makes sense."

His chest felt tight as she turned her face away. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"How soon?" She asked, pursing her lips together. She couldn't help but feel like she was about to lose him again, even if she knew this wasn't the same thing.

"I'm not sure yet," he said softly. He hesitated, reaching out and placing his hand lightly on her shoulder.

She tensed slightly but still didn't look at him, "I can have Alice come stay with me when you need to leave."

Oliver shut his eyes, letting his hand drop away when she tensed. "Yeah. That'll be good for both of you."

Chloe turned her head to look at him and held her breath, "let me know when you know more." She said quietly, trying to keep it together.

He started to say something else when he heard the sound of the elevator gates being pushed open. His eyes widened a little and he moved quickly, heading inside and blocking the view to Chloe. He blinked when he saw who was standing there. "What are you doing here?" he asked in confusion.

Pausing, Chloe turned to look toward the elevator but he was standing right in front of her.

Mia frowned up at him, "what? Do you think I'm stupid? I heard everything that happened! Just because you don't let me be a part of the grown up’s team it doesn't mean the others and I can't help!"

His eyes widened a little more at her words and he stepped aside to reveal that he wasn't alone. "Everything is under control, Mia."

She stilled and her eyes widened too when she saw a woman standing there, her face pale all of the sudden.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe looked at the younger woman and arched her eyebrows a little then glanced at Oliver.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Mia, this is Chloe Sullivan," he said quietly, knowing she'd recognize the name. He raised his eyebrows a little and glanced at Chloe. "Chloe, this is Mia Dearden."

Mia's eyes widened even more and she felt like they were about to pop out of her face, "Chloe Sullivan?" She echoed, looking at the woman, " _the_ Chloe Sullivan?"

Chloe shifted uncomfortably and pursed her lips together, "hi." She greeted, hoping she could just excuse herself soon. Clearly Oliver and Mia had things to discuss.

"The one and only," Oliver said softly, nodding.

"Wow," Mia murmured, looking between the two of them.

"I-- should go." Chloe said uncomfortably, then glanced at Oliver, "give me a call or something when you have a date." She didn't want to ask him for too much, but she needed to know when Alice would be coming to stay.

"Okay," he murmured, meeting her eyes for a moment, then looking down.

"Nice meeting you," she said politely to Mia, her voice wavering slightly so she made her way back to the elevator quickly.

Oliver felt his chest tighten at the expression on her face, at the hurried way she left. He rubbed a hand over his face and moved to sit down on the sofa, exhaling slowly before looking up at Mia. "Impeccable timing," he said wryly.

"Learned from the best," she said, arching her eyebrows, "what the hell is going on?"

"Oh you know. Just me screwing up my life."

Mia took a deep breath and gave him a look, "okay, explain."

"It's a long story. Sure you got time?"

"Well, it looks like you stopped the Metropolis menace single-handedly, or, I guess I should say with your _face_ , so yeah. I got time." She told him. It had been her job to kick his ass back into gear when he got this way for a while now, she planned on keeping up with it.

A small smile touched his mouth involuntarily. "Then sit down, Kid."

Mia nodded a little and made her way over to the couch, then looked up at him curiously, waiting.

He drew in a deep breath, situating himself more comfortably on the sofa. Filling her in was going to take awhile.


	10. Chapter 10

Chloe hadn't been surprised when she hadn't heard from Oliver anymore that night or the following morning. It _hurt_ but she wasn't surprised. She had managed to get some sleep but had woken up just after seven and to pull herself out of her own head, she had made her way to the Planet. She needed to stay busy and not allow herself to overreact.

It was a little past eight when Alice called her asking if they could meet and the girl had instantly taken the opportunity to come meet her at the Planet. It was a Sunday morning and the building was fairly empty so she saw no problem with that. The last thing she wanted was to go over to Oliver's right now anyway. But Alice had seemed tense too over the phone and Chloe couldn't help but wonder what had happened _now_.

It had been raining when Alice made her way to the Planet, and by the time she got inside she was drenched from head to toe. She made her way through the building with a little help from security's directions to Chloe's office. She knocked lightly on the door, swallowing hard.

"Come in," Chloe called, standing up. No one knocked at the Planet so she knew that was Alice.

Alice stepped inside and closed the door behind her, raising her eyebrows. "Thanks for letting me come over."

"You're soaking wet," Chloe gasped, apparently she had completely missed the fact that it had started to rain. Without thinking twice, she reached for her coat behind her chair and walked over to Alice, wrapping it over her shoulders.

"Thanks," she said quietly, giving Chloe a small smile.

"I should take you home," she said quietly, rubbing the coat over the girl's shoulders, "you need dry clothes. I had no idea it was raining."

"It's all right," she assured Chloe, drawing in a breath. "But I have a question for you."

"Of course," Chloe nodded, taking a deep breath too, "what is it?"'

"Did you know that Oliver had another daughter?" She swallowed hard, looking nervous.

Her eyes widened and she stilled, staring at the girl, "what?" She asked before she could stop herself, "he does?"

Alice nodded a little, wrapping her arms around herself. "I guess that answers my question," she said softly.

"Wait," Chloe paused, "you mean Mia? The girl who got there last night?"

"Yeah. That's the one."

"Oh," she said quietly, pursing her lips together, "she can't be that much older than you."

"Younger, actually," Alice said softly. "I overheard him telling her she was only sixteen."

"Two years," Chloe looked away, "just before he went missing."

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

Holding her breath, Chloe looked back at her and shook her head, "it's not your fault, Alice," she said softly even though her stomach was tight, "I guess it was just too big for him to tell us right away."

Alice bit her lower lip and looked down. "Yeah, I guess so."

Chloe's chest tightened and she stepped closer then wrapped her arms around her daughter. She'd been wanting to hug her since she first saw her, but she didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

She hesitated only a moment, then hugged Chloe in return, closing her eyes. "Do you think this changes things for him?"

Closing her eyes, Chloe rubbed Alice's back gently swallowing hard, "he's known about her all along," she whispered, "I don't see how it would."

"That's true." She relaxed a little.

"We will be okay," she promised, even if she didn't feel nearly as confident about that anymore. A moment later, she pulled back, "did he tell you she's his daughter?"

"No, but..." Alice was quiet for a moment. "It was the tone and...I don't know. I mean, she knew about us."

"And the way she came in..." Chloe nodded slightly, "it makes sense."

She chewed on her lip again. "It's kinda weird he didn't at least tell _you_."

Nodding slightly, Chloe took a deep breath, "maybe he was afraid how we would react," she reasoned.

"Yeah, maybe," she agreed, considering that.

"Let me take you to my apartment, you can take a shower and I'll give you some dry clothes and we can all take some time to process this." Chloe suggested.

"Are you sure it's not a problem?"

"It's not," she promised then smiled a little, "we can stop and get some coffee on the way there."

"I'd like that." Alice smiled back at her softly.

"Me too," she said quietly, "and.. I pulled out some family albums on Friday, if you're interested."

Her eyes widened a little. "Yeah, definitely."

Chloe smiled softly at that and nodded, pulling away from Alice so she could grab her things, "and I even left the embarrassing pictures in there," she promised, her voice a lot lighter than she felt. Apparently there was a whole lot more to Oliver that she didn't know about than she thought.

* * *

Later the next afternoon found Lois Lane on her cousin's doorstep, a frown on her face. She'd been texting Chloe off and on for the last twenty-four hours, but all the answers that Chloe had given her were vague and distant. She didn't like it at all, and she knew something was going on. Something big. And she wanted to know what it was.

"Must be the food," she told Alice, handing her the album she had on her lap before standing up.

"Want me to get it?" Alice asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I got it," she smiled a little and grabbed her wallet before making her way to the door. She was still restless because she hadn't heard from Oliver at all, but at least she and Alice were having a good time together. With a deep breath, Chloe reached for the door and opened it then stilled.

Lois raised her eyebrows. "Miss me?"

Holding her breath, Chloe nodded slightly, "always." She said quietly, glancing over her shoulder then back at her cousin, "Alice is here."

Her expression brightened a little. "Great!" She smiled.

"Hey," Chloe stopped her cousin, "go easy on her, she's... pretty overwhelmed as is."

"I'm not going to overwhelm her." She frowned a little.

"Just saying, don't go in and introduce yourself as _aunt_ Lois," Chloe whispered, stepping aside and pulling the door open so her cousin could come in.

Lois sighed heavily at that, stepping inside the apartment. "Fine, fine."

"Thank you," Chloe smiled a little then took a deep breath, "Alice?" She called.

Alice started toward the door, pausing when she caught sight of the unfamiliar brunette. "Hi?" she said uncertainly.

"Hi. I'm Lois," she said quickly.

"My cousin Lois," Chloe added, arching her eyebrows and smiling softly at her daughter. They had been looking at pictures all day and even some videos so she hoped she had told Alice enough about her cousin to prepare her because even though Chloe loved Lois, she knew she could be a little much to handle.

"Right. Nice to meet you." Alice held her hand out.

Lois shook it with a small smile. "Likewise." She raised her eyebrows a little.

"We just ordered pizza," Chloe said, watching the two of them, Alice was shorter than Lois, but not by much, "and I've been showing her family albums most of the day."

"Scared away yet?" she teased, looking at the younger blonde.

Alice grinned shyly and shook her head, "it's nice to see," she said, watching Lois, "you two looked more alike when you were kids."

Lois smiled faintly, glancing at Chloe. "Yeah, we did."

Chloe smiled back at her cousin then nodded, "we looked more like our moms then, I guess." She commented.

Alice arched her eyebrows a little and glanced at Chloe, she hadn't really heard about either of their moms yet but from the pictures, she could tell they hadn't been around.

"Our moms were practically twins. Just a year apart. They looked a lot alike."

"That's the age difference between you two too, right?" Alice asked.

"About a year and half," Chloe nodded, glancing at Lois, "she looks more like our moms than I do now."

Lois shrugged a little, moving to sit on the sofa. "Tell me about yourself, Alice."

"Oh," Alice shifted a little and sat back down too, "I, hm I'm a freshman at MetU?"

She nodded, glancing at Chloe with raised eyebrows.

"I grew up in Highville." She explained, glancing at Chloe, unsure of what else to say, "it wasn't bad."

Chloe smiled softly at Alice and sat back down next to her, "I don't think I asked what you're majoring in."

Lois leaned back against the sofa, watching the two of them interact silently.

"I haven't declared one yet," she pulled her hair behind her ear, "but maybe political science?"

"Oh. That's a good choice," Lois said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I was in some clubs in high school, it sounds... interesting." She admitted.

Chloe nodded slightly and arched her eyebrows, "it sounds great, and you can try some classes before deciding on it."

"Yeah, get some of the basics out of the way, too."

"That's what I'm doing," Alice nodded, smiling at the two of them.

"And my advice? Just get rid of all the math, calculus, whatever subject you don't like that you think you might need now, those are hard to get through as a senior," Chloe told her, making a face. She knew that while Alice had always been an excellent student, she tended to pick social politics and arts over science and math.

Lois smiled, as well, watching her cousin closely.

Chloe cocked her head and looked at Lois, ''you don't agree?" She asked, pausing.

"Huh?" Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you didn't agree with that I said," Chloe frowned a little.

"It's what I'm doing," Alice said, nodding, "I figured I should get rid of math now that I still remember it from high school."

"Sounds like a good plan," Lois agreed.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded, relaxing a little. For a second, she'd been terrified that she'd been giving Alice bad advice. "Do you wanna go back to the pictures? I'm sure Lois has stories to add."

Lois smirked. "Oh, do I ever."

Alice paused then grinned softly, "sounds very intriguing."

"You have no idea," Chloe said, mock rolling her eyes but grinning softly. Considering how miserable she'd been feeling that morning, the day had definitely improved. All she had to do was focus on Alice and do her best not to think of Oliver or what else he might be hiding.

* * *

Mia watched Oliver pace around the roof for about ten minutes down, it wasn't only making her a little dizzy, but also annoyed. She stood up and brushed any possible dust from her cape. "Just call her already, prolonging it is only gonna make it worse." She said bluntly.

He sighed, looking over at her. "It's not that easy," he said, shaking his head.

"But you've made up your mind, haven't you?" She pushed.

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face. "Yes," he said. Without conviction.

She arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything for a moment, "then get it over with and let's go home, Ollie."

"I don't want to hurt them, Mia." He looked away.

"I know," she said, hooking her bow to her quiver then walking over to him, "but you're going to, so it's better to do it now."

He was silent for a moment. "I'll meet you out there," he said quietly.

Mia paused and frowned a little then nodded, picking up her bow again, "are you sure you don't want me to stay?" She didn't expect him to actually go through with this, not when she knew he'd been looking for Chloe and his daughter all his life.

"I'm sure. I'll be out there soon," he assured her.

Frowning more, she nodded a little and took a deep breath, "okay," she agreed uncertain then walked over to the edge and jumped.

He watched her go, then sighed softly, rubbing his hands over his face once more, looking over at his phone.

Mia paused on the rooftop next to his and watched him for a second. He better not go through with it because she had the feeling if he did, it would be pretty impossible to fix it.


	11. Chapter 11

The past couple of days had been... _long_. Chloe had heard from Oliver one more time since his other daughter came into town but she hadn't seen him since. And she didn't expect to. Alice had gone over to get her things but had found the Clocktower deserted. He had apparently left already without even seeing them again and as much as she tried to tell herself that he obviously had his own life and that he had apparently decided that there was no space for her and Alice in his life, it still hurt.

She knew it shouldn't, not with how much time had gone by and she had been incredibly stupid to think that the three of them could suddenly be something that resembled a family now.

At least things with her daughter had been going better. She could tell that the girl was hurting too so she'd been doing her best to reassure her. Alice had stayed with her the previous two nights and the two of them had talked a lot, gotten to know each other more and they had been getting along very well and that gave Chloe hope that she could at least get one of them back in a way.

The Met U dorms had reopened this morning, however, so tonight was the first night Chloe would have something that resembled her normal routine, before she got Alice's phone call that morning and so far, she didn't like it at all.

It was past midnight already and she was only now leaving the Planet and starting her short walk home. She had had plenty of work to do with everything that happened with the Justice League and Superman the past weekend, but she knew she would have nothing but time in her hands when she got home and she'd been having a hard time stopping herself from trying to figure out where Mia Dearden had come from or how long she'd been in Oliver's life and the more idle time she'd have, the harder she knew it would be to stop herself from researching. Even if it really wasn't any of her business.

"Hey, Blondie." A man leered at her from beneath a tipped baseball cap, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "What's your price?" 

"Superman punching a hole through your skull," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she ignored him.

He pushed himself away from the brick wall and moved toward her, following her closely. "I'm sure you can fit in one more tonight."

"The district you're looking for is the Suicide Slums, not the Business district. Get lost before you end up in jail." She said loud enough for him to hear.

"Well, that's not very nice, is it?" He reached out and caught hold of her arm.

"Neither is calling me a hooker," she said, turning to face him, her jaw tight. If there was one thing she didn't have at the moment, it was patience.

"Just calling it how I see it." He smirked at her, reaching up to touch her face.

Chloe pulled her head back and one second later, lifted her knee, connecting it to his crotch as hard as she could with her height.

As soon as she did, he cried out in pain, but grabbed hold of the knife in his pocket and lashed out at her with it.

"Ow!" she gasped in pain as she felt the blade burning against her skin but took the opportunity to pull away from him and start running toward her apartment.

"I'm gonna kill you, you BITCH!" he screamed after her.

"Superman!" She called finally when she realized the guy was following her, hoping Clark wasn't busy.

"He's out of town," a deep, mechanical voice informed her from a few feet away as he landed in front of her. "But I'm not."

Chloe stilled and held her breath, looking at the man that suddenly appeared in front of her and recognizing him instantly. "Green Arrow." She said under her breath and then a second later, her attacker bumped right into her.

And just as quickly, her attacker was on the ground, Green Arrow's boot on his chest. "You make it a practice to harass and scare women?"

"Who the hell are you?" The guy asked with wide eyes.

"The guy who's already called the police and is gonna make sure you're off the streets tonight and given a nice hot meal for free while you wait for a jury of your peers to decide whether or not you're a danger to the people of Metropolis." He smirked.

With a deep breath, Chloe took a step closer to the two men just as she saw the red and blue lights rounding the corner, "looks like you won't have to wait long."

"Oh good. I'm not a patient kind of guy." He arched his eyebrows behind the glasses.

"Thank you," Chloe told him, looking up at him again, she knew the guy had helped with the Clark situation a few days ago, but she had never seen him in Metropolis before.

He paused, for the first time recognizing her voice. "Are you hurt?" His throat tightened.

She looked at him for a moment longer, there was something familiar about him. With a deep breath, she glanced at her arm and winced when she saw the blood soaking the ripped gray sleeve of her suit, "I'll be okay."

His eyes narrowed and darkened at the sight of her blood. Without warning he turned back toward the man on the ground, landing a hard kick to his ribs. "You better thank whatever god you believe in the cops are almost here."

The man growled in pain and Chloe's eyes widened at his unexpected reaction. She took a step forward and placed a hand on Green Arrow's arm, "I'm fine."

"You need to get to a hospital," he told her.

Holding her breath, she nodded a little, "I'll find a cab."

"I'll take you. It'll be faster." He lifted a hand to wave at the approaching officers, then turned to face Chloe, his heart beating fast in his chest.

Chloe glanced over her shoulder and took a deep breath, "I'm sure you have other people to protect."

"I'm not finished protecting you yet," he said quietly, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Hold on tight."

Holding her breath, Chloe wrapped her good arm around him and looked up at him, her own heart beating fast.

"It's safe. I do this a lot." He smiled, but it was faint as he fired an anchor line to the roof.

"I know," she muttered, looking up at him still.

His arm tightened around her as the line propelled them upwards in a rush. When they made it to the roof, he drew in a breath. "My bike's on the other side of the building."

Chloe instinctively closed her eyes as he took them up, her ear pressed against his chest and once he set them down, her heart skipped a beat. The hug, or the way his arms wrapped around her. It felt familiar, too familiar. The same way it had only ever felt with _him_ before. And then her eyes widened and she turned to look at him again, but didn't pull away. It couldn't be.

When she didn't pull away, he looked down at her, holding his breath. "You all right?"

It would make sense. If it was him. He had always loved arrows and archery. And his arms... she had noticed just how much stronger he had gotten. She blinked once and then paused. And the bruise on his face, just after the night Clark had gone crazy on red K. It had to be him.

Swallowing hard, her stomach dropped and Chloe pulled away from him. Her chest was tight. It had to be him and he was still in town. He just didn't want anything to do with her or Alice anymore.

"Miss?" He felt his heart beginning to pound harder as he stared at her from behind the dark night vision glasses.

"I'll find my way there." She said, finally looking away from him. "I'm sure you're needed somewhere else."

"Here I thought we covered that ground already." He cocked his head to the side.

"I've changed my mind." She said, looking around then starting toward the fire escape.

"Wait." He took a step toward her, shaking his head. "You've lost a lot of blood."

"I'm fine." She insisted, hesitating before starting on the first step down.

"Would you be turning down Superman if he offered to take you?"

She paused and turned to look at him over her shoulder, her chest tight, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"You were calling for Superman," he reminded her, pausing as well.

"He's the one who was supposed to be around." She said, staring at him.

"And instead you got me." He felt his chest tighten at the way he was looking at her.

"And you've done enough for me," she said quietly, her eyes tearing up slightly, "you have no obligations toward me."

Oliver grew still. "Obligations?" he echoed.

She stared at him for a moment then continued down the stairs, slower than she'd like but she didn't want to risk slipping.

"Wait," he said again, this time too softly for the distorter to pick up. Then louder as he pushed it aside. "Chloe, _wait_!"

Chloe did still when she heard her name and her stomach tightened but she didn't turn to look at him.

"Look at me," he said softly. "Please."

With a deep breath she held onto the railing and turned toward, her jaw tight as she tried to keep control over her emotions. Watching her intently, he reached up and tugged the hood off his head, holding his breath as he removed the glasses.

Her eyes widened a little and she stared up at him, then nodded slightly and looked away. One more thing she hadn't known about his life.

"I know you figured it out," he said quietly, not taking his eyes off her.

"Like I said," she said just as quietly, "you have no obligations."

His chest tightened painfully at her words. "It's not like that," he whispered.

"It doesn't matter what it is like," she took a deep breath and turned to look at him, "the only thing I don't understand is why you decided to come at all."

He flinched visibly. "You're right. I shouldn't have come in the first place."

Chloe hesitated for a moment then straightened, "I don't know what you were planning," she said tightly, "but she has dealt with enough rejection her entire life, Oliver, and I think that at the very least she deserves a better explanation than what you gave her."

He shut his eyes. "And so do you," he said softly.

"I don't care about me," she told him, "but she is upset and I can't blame her. Especially considering you decided to leave when your other daughter showed up." If she was going to lay it out for him, she wasn't going to hold back, for Alice's sake.

He opened his eyes again, his eyebrows furrowing. "My other daughter?" He stared at her. "She's not--she's not my daughter," he said, shaking his head. At least not biologically anyway.

Chloe held her breath and shook her head, "I don't need any explanations, like I said, you don't owe me anything. But I don't want Alice to hurt anymore than she already has."

He took a step closer to her. "What do you want me to do?" he whispered, shaking his head. "I didn't expect any of this, Chloe. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I never thought I'd even see Alice. My life is...it's complicated." He lifted his bow in the air.

"I don't want her to feel like she doesn't matter," she told him, taking a deep breath, "three days ago you were welcoming her into your home and letting her _live_ there with you and all of the sudden you supposedly have to leave and you can't even be bothered to be there when she goes pick her things up?" She shook her head, "I don't know what happened and I obviously don't know you anymore like I thought I did but if you had no intentions of being in her life why did you put all that effort into this last weekend? What _changed_?"

His shoulders slumped a little at the question and he dropped his bow to his side once more, then dropped it, moving to sit on the edge of the roof as he fell silent. "Let's just say I got a wake up reminder of how dangerous what I do is," he said quietly.

She watched him for a moment then hesitated and made her way back up the stairs, "because of what happened with Clark?" She asked, moving to stand next to him.

Startled, he turned his head to look at her, his eyes wide.

Chloe sighed softly, moving to carefully sit next to him but keeping plenty of space between them. She was getting a little dizzy even if her arm felt numb. "I know about him and the League, and so does Lois."

"Oh." He watched her for a moment. "I didn't know you knew. I didn't know _anyone_ knew. I mean, anyone outside the League."

"I found out a while back," she sighed softly, "he told Lois a couple of years ago, right before they got engaged."

"Be nice if he kept the rest of us informed on occasion," he grumbled. Not that he spent a lot of time with the League.

Chloe stared at the city for a moment then shrugged a little, "it was hard on him too." Her chest tightened, "he didn't want to put her in danger."

"Yeah," he whispered, staring blankly at the wall.

"And now she helps him every night," Chloe went on, "the rest of the League also knows to protect her and their relationship is finally working _because_ she knows the truth."

"And Clark has a pretty good ability to keep her safe himself." He didn't look at her. He didn't have to. He knew what she was getting at.

Chloe glanced at him and back out at the city, taking a deep breath. "Who is she? Mia. Alice said it sounded like she was your daughter."

He was silent for a moment. "A couple years ago...I helped her out of a rough situation. She was just a kid." He paused. "Still is." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I couldn't just leave her on her own, you know?"

Her face softened a little at that but Chloe kept her eyes on the city lights, "does she know?"

"Are you kidding? She had it figured out the same night who I was." He sighed a little. "Apparently keeping a secret identity isn't my strong suit."

She took a deep breath at that and nodded a little, "I'm glad you have someone who knows. I know a lot of you can get pretty lonely."

Oliver was silent for a moment. "She didn't really give me a choice."

"You have a choice with Alice," she said quietly, looking down, "I won't tell her."

"It's not safe," he said just as quietly.

Her face fell and she closed her eyes, "it doesn't mean you have to stay out of her life."

"Doesn't it?" he asked softly. "Don't you think being around me would put her at risk all the time?"

"The public doesn't know about you, Oliver." Chloe sighed softly and shook her head, "I think we can work around any possible danger. If this is the only reason that made you decide to tell us you were leaving, I don't think it's big enough to keep the two of you out of each other's lives again."

"Three of us," he corrected her, chewing the inside of his cheek.

Her chest tightened at that and she shook her head slightly, "I don't want to get between the two of you," she said tightly, "I want you to have a relationship with her regardless of whether or not the two of us are around each other."

He winced, rubbing a hand over his face. "I blew it, didn't I?" he asked softly.

"She's hurt." Chloe told him quietly, even if his question wasn't referring to Alice, she didn't want to talk about anything else, "but I don't think it's too late."

"I just wanted to protect her," he murmured. "If anyone would ever find out who I am...who I _really_ am, they'll go after her. They'll go after anyone close to me."

"No one knows you are her father, Oliver." Chloe reminded him, taking a deep breath, "your name isn't connected to hers in any way. All you have to do is keep it that way and unless someone runs a DNA test on her, no one will connect the two of you."

He pursed his lips, turning to look at her even as he fell silent once more.

"It's your choice," she said, holding his gaze for a moment then looking away, "but I want to do everything I can to make sure she's not getting hurt."

Oliver hesitantly reached out, touching her hand. "I don't want to hurt _anyone_ , Chloe. Especially not someone I love."

She stilled and as much as she wanted to pull her hand away, she stopped herself from doing so, "then talk to her."

He held his breath. "If I tell her the truth," he murmured. "Will you help me?"

Her chest tightened and she nodded slightly, looking down at her lap, "in any way that I can."

He looked down at their hands, gently lacing his fingers through hers. "Come on," he whispered. "We need to get your arm looked at."

Chloe's face crumbled a little as he laced his fingers through hers and she took a deep breath then pulled her hand from his, "you can drop me off at Metropolis General. I can have Lois pick me up."

"You don't want me there," he said quietly. It wasn't a question.

"You're wearing your uniform." She pointed out before pushing herself up on her good arm.

He rose to his feet. "I'll drop you off, then go home and change."

She paused and took a deep breath. She really didn't want to be around him, she wanted to be able to process all of this and she wanted to put enough distance between them so she would stop feeling like this when he was around. But she didn't feel like she could turn him down again, so she nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he murmured, gazing at her intently.

"Don't," she said, shaking her head slightly, "I know it's a big secret to keep."

"It is," he agreed, meeting her eyes. "But of all the people in my life, if there's anyone I knew deep down I could trust, it's _you_."

Chloe looked away once more and took a deep breath, "we have both changed, Oliver. I'm not going to hold this against you."

"I haven't changed that much," he said softly, looking down.

"Maybe you just don't realize." She said quietly.

He paused at that, looking at her arm and wincing. "Come on. We need to get going." He slid his glasses on once more, pulling his hood back up over his head and wrapping his arm around her waist. "Just hang on tight again," he said softly.

Chloe took a deep breath and, without looking at him, wrapped her good arm around his neck. "I'm ready." She murmured.

Without thinking about it, he pressed a tender kiss to her forehead then he began to lower them carefully down off the roof. Maybe he hadn't completely blown it after all.


	12. Chapter 12

Oliver made his way back to Metropolis General less than a half-hour later, this time in a t-shirt and jeans. It wasn’t what he normally wore--because he was expected to be dressed up most of the time when he went out. But he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, either. So he glanced around impatiently as he waited for a nurse at the nurse’s station in the emergency room.

“Can I help you?” A nurse asked as she checked on a clipboard without looking at him. 

“I’m here because someone brought in a friend of mine. Chloe Sullivan?” 

“I’m here,” Chloe called, holding her breath when she looked over at him, her arm in a sling. 

He turned to see her, his chest tight as he moved to her side. “How is it?” he asked anxiously.

“Okay,” she said, looking up at him then glancing at the nurse when she realized that the woman was currently staring at him, “just seven stitches, it will be fine.” 

Oliver looked down at the sling, gently touching her arm. “Does it hurt?” 

“It’s sore,” she said quietly, looking up at him once more, “I just need to sign the papers and we can go.” 

“All right,” he said just as quietly. “Do you want me to call Lois?” 

“No,” she took a deep breath, “there is no reason to worry her. I’ll tell her tomorrow.” 

He searched her eyes. “Okay.” 

“Thank you for coming back,” she said quietly, looking down then back at him.

He held his breath, wanting to reach out and touch her, but afraid to do so. “Happy to do so,” he whispered.

“Let me just sign out,” she said quietly, “then we can go.” She told him, ready to get out of there and to get some time away from him. 

Nodding, he followed her to the nurse’s station, where the nurse he’d spoken with was still gawking at him. He sighed inwardly, raising his eyebrows a little and looking down at the floor. 

Chloe glanced over at him then made her way over to the nurse, talking to the woman quietly and noticing the way she kept looking over at Oliver. But Chloe was too tired to say anything so she just signed the papers and turned toward him again, “okay, ready.” 

“Great.” He was looking forward to getting out of there, as well. He was used to being stared at, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t tiring. He hesitantly held his arm out for her to hold onto. 

She looked at him for a moment then took a deep breath and linked her good arm with his then nodded slightly. 

He led her away from the nurse’s station and toward the exit where he’d parked his car. “You sure you’re okay?” 

“Yeah, they gave me a couple of painkillers, I’ll be okay, It doesn’t hurt that much.” She promised. 

“All right,” he said softly, glancing down at her as they left the hospital. 

“I’m not sure how you can stand it,” she murmured once they were outside and looked up at him. 

“Stand what?” he asked uncertainly, raising his eyebrows a little. 

“The staring,” she told him, shaking her head and glancing over her shoulder. “Even back in high school.” 

“It gets old,” Oliver admitted, voice soft. 

“I’m sure it does,” Chloe watched him for a long moment then looked away again. “are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” he assured her, hand resting at her lower back as they arrived at his car. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner tonight.” 

“I’m glad you got there when you did,” she said quietly, “I didn’t know Clark isn’t in Metropolis.” 

“Yeah, there was a league emergency,” he said just as quietly. 

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, “I’m glad you didn’t leave,” she said sincerely, “...or came back.” 

“I never left,” he admitted, ducking his head. “I couldn’t bring myself to leave.” 

Her chest tightened as she paused and looked up at him then took a deep breath and shook her head, “you shouldn’t have done this to yourself.” 

He looked at the ground. “I don’t have Clark’s ability to protect the people I care about,” he said softly. “I have to take things into consideration.” 

“I know,” she took a deep breath then hesitantly lifted a hand to his arm, “and I understand if you don’t want to tell her right now, but you’re not alone in protecting her.” 

“Chloe, I’m not talking about just Alice.” He lifted his head to gaze at her. 

“I have known about Clark for a long time, Oliver,” she told him, shaking her head slightly as she dropped her hand from his arm, “I’ll be fine.” 

He was quiet for a moment, and then he nodded slightly. “Okay.” 

“Just... figure out what you want to do about her and I will help you with that.” She promised.

“And us?” His voice was barely audible. 

Her chest tightened at that and Chloe looked down then shook her head slightly, “I don’t know.” 

Oliver swallowed hard, looking away. “Right,” he murmured. 

“I really think we should focus on her, Oliver. I don’t want to risk messing anything up and hurting her in the process.” She told him, glancing at him. Mostly it scared her how much it would hurt if things didn’t work out, it had hurt enough this time already and they had only kissed once. If they really got involved... it would be as bad as last time.

He didn’t look at her. “Yeah.” He unlocked the car door and pulled it open for her silently. 

Chloe looked at him for a moment then got into the car, glancing at him as he closed the door for her then sighing deeply. 

He moved around to the driver’s seat slowly, climbing in and starting the engine without hesitation. “I’ll have you home in no time,” he said quietly. 

“Thank you,” she said sincerely, glancing quickly at him, “you really didn’t have to do all this.”

“Yes, I did.” He shifted the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. 

Nodding slightly, she rubbed her hand over her face, “I have plans to have dinner with Alice on Friday,” she said quietly, “she might be spending the weekend with me, if you want to talk to her.” 

“All right. Thanks for letting me know,” he said softly, not looking at her, his eyes focused on the road ahead. 

“No problem.” She said quietly, laying her head back against the seat and looking out the window. 

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, ignoring the dull ache in his chest as he pulled up in front of her building. “Here you go.” 

“Thank you,” she said again, sitting up and taking a deep breath, “let me know if you need any help with her,” she offered again, reaching for the door. 

“Do you want me to walk with you?” he asked quietly, sitting behind the wheel. 

“No,” she took a deep breath, “I’ll be okay. Thank you.” 

“All right.” He watched as she climbed from the car. “Chloe?” 

Chloe paused and turned to face him again, lowering her head to the window, “yeah?” She asked, holding her breath. 

“I’m really sorry,” he whispered. 

Her face fell and her chest tightened but she shook her head, “we’ll... figure it out.” She said quietly. They had to, somehow. 

He nodded a little. “Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight.” She said quietly, looking at him for a moment long, “and thank you again.” She whispered before closing the car door and starting toward her building with her chest tight. 

* * *

Chloe felt more than a little disoriented when her phone pulled her out of her sleep, she groaned quietly as she turned on her side and hissed when she laid on the arm she had hurt the previous night, instantly remembering what had happened even though the painkillers were fogging her brain still. 

She reached over on her bedside table and picked up the phone then took a deep breath and laid back down as she pressed it to her ear, “hello?” She murmured tiredly. 

“Chloe?” Alice’s voice was filled with uncertainty. 

“Alice?” Chloe frowned, clearing her throat and pushing herself up, “what’s wrong?” 

She hesitated. “I saw the paper.” 

“Paper?” She echoed, confused, “what paper?”

“All of them?” Alice raised her eyebrows a little. “Is everything okay?” 

Chloe frowned and looked over at the clock, her eyes widening when she realized it was past noon, “I didn’t realize it was so late, what does the paper say?” 

“You should probably take a look for yourself...” Her voice trailed off. 

“I’m starting my computer,” she said, her chest tight, “are you okay?”

“Yeah? Just a little confused. And kind of worried about you.” 

“I’m okay,” Chloe frowned, “why are you worried?” 

“You got hurt?” 

Her eyes widened at the question as she pulled up the Planet website, “that’s in the papers?” Chloe gasped. 

“Yeah. With Oliver escorting you outside...” 

“Oh...” Chloe breathed, pausing and looking at the article by Cat Grant at the same time she heard Alice, “yeah. We ran into each other last night.” 

“So he’s still in town? And you’re all right?” 

“I’m okay and... yeah, he is.” She took a deep breath, rubbing her hand over her face, “and he will want to talk to you.” 

“Are you sure? Do you need me to come over or anything?” There was worry in her voice.

“You can if you want to, but I’m okay and I don’t want you to miss class,” Chloe said calmly. 

She was silent for a moment. “I have some time between classes this afternoon. Would it be okay for me to stop by then?” 

“Yeah,” Chloe took a deep breath, “I guess I won’t be going in to work today.” 

“Okay, then I’ll come by around one,” she told her. 

“Alright, but... don’t worry, I’m fine.” She promised, holding her breath. 

“Okay. Good. I’m glad you’re okay.” 

“Thank you,” she said quietly, “I’ll see you soon. I’ll have lunch for us.” 

“No, don’t go to any trouble,” Alice said with a slight frown. “I can pick something up for us on my way over.” 

“It’s just a phone call, Alice, and all I have is a cut on my arm, I can do that without a problem,” she promised, not wanting Alice to feel like she had to take care of her. 

“If you’re sure...” 

“I am, I’ll see you soon.” She repeated. 

“All right. I’ll see you at one.” She hesitated, then slowly hung up the phone. 

She took a deep breath after she hung up and stood up, heading to the kitchen to look at the menus and pausing when she found an envelope sticking under her door. Frowning slightly, Chloe pulled it the rest of the way in and opened it carefully, stilling as she read the note, recognizing Oliver’s handwriting . All it said was ‘I’m so sorry’ but it was enough to make her stomach turn. 

Pursing her lips together, she unlocked the door and opened it, stilling when she saw the flowers by her door. Shaking her head, she picked it up carefully and took a deep breath, “Oliver,” she sighed softly then closed the door. She was going to have to be honest with him sooner or later. 

* * * 

Oliver sat at his desk, staring blankly out the window that overlooked the city. He hadn’t slept the night before, and as tired as he was, he was also wide awake. He drew in a breath as he heard footsteps approaching, followed by, “I tried to stop her, Mr. Queen!” 

He blinked a couple times and turned to see his assistant, looking upset, right behind an equally upset-looking Lois Lane. 

_Shit._

“It’s okay, Emily,” he told his assistant, nodding a little and drawing in a breath. “Lois.” 

Lois stopped at the door and stared at him, not bothering looking at the assistant, “what the hell are you doing?” She demanded the second the other woman started out of the room.

“Well, up until you stormed in like you own the place, I was working.” 

“Kind of like you just showed up in Metropolis after all this time and broke my cousin’s heart _again_?” She asked without missing a beat. 

His jaw tightened at that. “You really have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

“I don’t know what you’re planning but when you told them you were leaving, you should have stayed away!” 

His eyes narrowed and he moved past her, shutting the door and locking it before turning to face her once more. “I’m Green Arrow.” 

Lois stilled and her eyes widened, “what?” 

“That’s why I was planning to leave. Because being around me could be incredibly dangerous. If anyone ever discovered my identity, who do you think they’ll go after first, Lois?” 

Her face fell at that and she took a deep breath, nodding slightly. 

He looked away, rubbing his hands over his face warily. “When Chloe called and told me that Alice had shown up I _had_ to come,” he whispered. 

“Of course you did,” she shook her head a little, “I figured you decided to leave because it freaked you out.” 

“Couldn’t be farther from the truth,” he said quietly, exhaling and shutting his eyes.

“But you were with Chloe last night,” she pointed out, eyes narrowing slightly. 

“Because she was walking home alone and got jumped. I just happened to be there,” he said meaningfully.

“She told me, I just called her,” Lois told him, watching him closely, “so you decided to stick around?” 

He pursed his lips. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted quietly. 

“I get it,” Lois told him, shrugging, “I mean, I see what Clark goes through every day and even though I know, he still freaks out because I might get hurt and because he can’t always be there and all that. But he can’t do what he does alone and we’re all at risk anyway, at least Chloe and I, because of our jobs. It’s not your fault or his, it’s just how our lives are.” 

Oliver was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in. He blew out a breath, raking a hand through his spiky blond hair. “So it doesn’t bother you? It doesn’t scare you that some enemy of Clark’s could come after you as collateral?” 

“No,” she shrugged, “a maniac could come after me any day of the week and most of them don’t know I even know Clark or his alter ego.” Lois walked over to his couch and sat down, “what scares me the most is _him_ being out there dealing with said maniacs.” 

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek, studying her for a long moment. 

“Look,” Lois took a deep breath, “I don’t know you all that well, I only really know what Chloe told me, and I may not know Alice all that well either but they were both really upset when you left.” She said honestly, “if you’re doing this just because of what may or may not happen and because you’re scared, you’re just making this harder on all of you.” 

He took a slow, deep breath, before turning to look out the window that overlooked the city once more. Maybe she was right. 

Lois watched him for a moment then took a deep breath, “I’ll leave you alone, but if you wanna talk about it, I have some experience with this. And you know, so does Clark.” 

Oliver gave a short nod to let her know he’d heard her. “Thanks, Lois.” His voice was quiet. 

“Welcome,” she told him, keeping her eyes on him for a moment then starting toward the door but pausing and turning toward him again even if his back was still to her, “just for future reference, if you hurt either one of them, I’ll kill you.” 

Despite his worry, a smile quirked the corner of his mouth. “Duly noted.” 

Nodding slightly, she turned around and left without another word.


	13. Chapter 13

Chloe had a long conversation with both Lois and Perry before Alice had made it over to her apartment. Lois had been pissed at Oliver and Perry at the tabloid paparazzi that were currently parked in front of the Planet. Her editor had also been pissed at the gossip columnist for running the article without his approval, but that part Chloe didn’t feel bad about. 

After she had lunch with her daughter and told her that she had spoken with Oliver but that she wanted him to explain things to her himself, Alice made her way back to MetU for her classes and Chloe made herself call Oliver. Between all the articles and the flowers, she knew they had no choice but to talk. 

He had agreed to coming over to her place as soon as he thought he wasn’t going to be followed by the press, she had no idea when exactly that was going to be, but she hoped it was soon.

A few minutes later, there was a soft knock on her door. 

Holding her breath, she stood up from where she was in her office and made her way to the door, running a hand through her hair before opening the door, “hey.” She greeted. 

She wasn’t the only one holding the breath as she opened the door. He raised his eyebrows a little. “Hi,” he said softly. 

“Come in,” she invited, stepping aside and holding the door open for him.

Nodding a little, he stepped inside, rubbing the back of his neck. “How’s the arm?” 

“Okay,” she said quietly, closing and locking the door, “how are you?”

“Fine,” he said quickly, turning to face her. 

Chloe pursed her lips together and nodded, motioning to her couch, “do you want anything to drink?”

He shook his head a little, slowly moving over to the sofa and taking a seat, gazing up at her with worried eyes.

She nodded slightly and took a deep breath before sitting down too, “I called Perry and he said he’s getting everything he can under control.” She told him. 

“I’ve got my PR people on it, as well,” he said quietly. 

“He was going to give them a call,” she nodded, taking a deep breath, “but we will need to be careful for a while, especially going in public with Alice.” 

“Yeah, agreed,” he said softly, looking down at his hands. 

Chloe pursed her lips together and nodded slightly then took a deep breath again, “she came to have lunch with me.” 

He swallowed hard. “How is she?” 

“She was worried,” Chloe admitted, her chest tight, “and confused, but I told her you wanted to talk to her.”

Nodding slightly, he drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Thanks.” 

“You’re welcome,” she said quietly, “she seemed okay with it.” 

He was quiet for a moment. “Lois came to see me.” 

Chloe tensed at that and sat up, turning a little more toward him as her eyes widened slightly, “she did?” 

He nodded silently, raising his eyebrows a little. 

“Why?” She asked, shaking her head and sighing in annoyance, she knew Lois and she knew how pissed she had been earlier, she could only imagine why she went to see Oliver. “I’m sorry for whatever she said.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said quietly. “It’s mine for being an idiot.” 

“Is that what Lois told you?”

“No. She wanted to know what the hell I thought I was doing, and told me she’d kill me if I hurt either you or Alice.” He pursed his lips.

Chloe winced and closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I deserved it,” he told her honestly.

“She had no right to go see you, especially not considering she doesn’t know...” she whispered.

He raised his eyebrows a little. “She does now.” 

Chloe stilled against and stared at him, her eyes widening. 

Oliver shrugged, gazing back at her silently. 

She took a deep breath and shook her head, “I guess that solves that.” She said, looking away from him.

His face fell when she looked away, and he looked away, too. He wasn’t sure what he’d been hoping for anyway. “Yeah.” 

“Did you give anymore thought about what you’re going to say to Alice?” She asked quietly.

He rubbed his hands over his face. “I’m going to tell her the truth.” 

“Are you sure?” She asked, turning to look at him once more.

“You don’t think I should?” 

“I think you should do what you feel is the best,” she whispered, holding his gaze this time, “but Lois and I already had experience with things like this, she might not take it so lightly.”

He looked down at his hands, falling silent for a long moment. “Do you wish you didn’t know the things you know about?” 

“Never,” she shook her head, still watching him. “But I have always looked for it.”

“Maybe I should feel her out about it first,” he murmured. “Bring up the topic of vigilantes and see what she thinks.” 

“It might not be a bad idea,” she pursed her lips together, “maybe we can tell her Green Arrow helped me. I didn’t give her details.”

He hesitated. “I don’t want her to feel like we set her up. Maybe we should just leave that part out of it.” 

Chloe stilled at that and nodded a little, looking away, “like I said, whatever you think is best.”

“I want your opinion, Chloe. It’s important to me,” he said softly. 

She sighed softly, “I don’t know what to tell you.” She admitted quietly.

“Me being here...is making you uncomfortable.” He didn’t look at her. 

“That’s not it,” she said quietly then stood up, “I’m just not sure how we’re supposed to make decisions on what is best for her now when we haven’t done that in the past eighteen years.”

He blew out a breath, shutting his eyes. “Me either.” He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. “I uh--I actually picked up a couple books earlier today. On _parenting_.” He shook his head a little. 

Her chest tightened a little and she shook her head, “she’s not a child, Oliver.” She pointed out quietly, “and we’re only her biological parents. Her being in our lives now doesn’t change that.”

“No, I know she’s not. I just...” His voice trailed off and he sighed softly, leaning back and falling silent. 

“I know,” she whispered, turning to look at him again.

“Maybe it’s just too little, too late.” 

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, careful not to touch the bandage, “I’m really glad we’re getting to know her now,” she said quietly, “but it’s also a reminder of how much we missed.” She admitted. She had been thinking about that a lot, the more Alice told stories about her childhood, it just made her wish more and more she had been there with her.

“Yeah. I know it is,” he murmured, raking a hand through his hair. “I don’t really know what to do about any of it.” And that was new for him.

“How did you handle it with Mia?” She asked, pursing her lips together, “at least you have some experience with her.”

“Which part?” he asked, raising his eyebrows a little. 

“Well, you said she figured out your secret,” she shrugged slightly, “so I guess just the part about taking care of her.”

“Mia was...pretty much used to taking care of herself. I just told her that if she was going to be staying with me, she had to go to school. And you know, I cook, and uh--buy her clothes and whatever she needs.” 

“And that’s enough?” She asked, pursing her lips together. She wanted to do more than that.

“Well, I mean...we hang out and talk and watch movies and stuff. She seems to be happy.” Suddenly he wasn’t so sure. 

Chloe nodded slightly and watched him for a moment then walked back to the couch and sat down once again, “I guess that’s all we can do for her.”

“I don’t know,” he murmured. “What if it’s not enough?” 

“It’s not our place. It’s her mother’s.” She swallowed hard. “And she probably still is better fitted for this.”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah. She probably is.” 

“I should call her,” Chloe nodded, “just, thank her for telling Alice about me and for everything she’s done.”

“Thank her for me too?” he asked hesitantly. 

“Yeah,” she nodded, taking a deep breath, “I will.”

“Thank you,” he said quietly. 

Pursing her lips together, she turned toward him once again, “is Mia still in town?”

He nodded ever-so-slightly. 

“Maybe you could... formally introduce them.” She suggested quietly. 

Oliver cocked his head to the side, looking at her for a moment. “They aren’t _too_ far apart in age.” 

“Mia is... sixteen, right?” Chloe asked, frowning a little.

“She’ll be seventeen in a couple months,” he said with a nod. 

“Less than two years then,” she nodded, “kind of the same as Lois and I.”

A small smile touched his mouth at that. He wondered what it was like to have family that was as close as Chloe and Lois. “Maybe they’ll hit it off.” His voice was soft. 

Smiling slightly, she took a deep breath, “I hope so.”

He was silent for a moment. “Chloe?” 

She paused and glanced over at him, arching her eyebrows slightly, “yeah?”

Oliver hesitated. “What about you and I?” He turned his head to look at her. “Where does this all leave us?” 

Her chest tightened and she stopped herself from sighing, “I don’t know,” she told him, giving him the same answer as the last time he asked, “I don’t know what to do about this either.”

He looked down at his hands once more, falling silent. 

She glanced over at him and her stomach turned a little, “I care about you,” she said quietly, “I told you that, but we’re not sixteen anymore.”

“I know that, Chloe.” His voice was soft. “But that doesn’t mean...” 

“Doesn’t mean what?” She asked, her voice just as quiet. She knew they had already had this conversation before but with him deciding to leave all of the sudden once, it made this a lot scarier.

“It doesn’t mean that everything’s changed either,” he whispered, glancing at her sideways. 

“That’s the problem,” she admitted, holding his gaze.

His eyebrows furrowed a little. “What do you mean?” 

“Things were... very intense and complicated between us even back then, Oliver. And we were just kids.” She told him. 

“We’re intense, complicated people,” he said carefully, watching her.

“And it would be so hard to be around each other if things didn’t work out.” She pointed out.

His face fell and he looked down at that. “Right.” 

“I don’t know, Oliver.” She said again, “but we had agreed to taking one day at a time and I think we should actually stick to that plan.” Because telling him it would never happen was just not something she could bring herself to do.

He let out a breath, nodding a little. “If you’re still okay with that,” he said softly.

Nodding slightly, she glanced at him, “we’ll be in each other’s lives for the foreseeable future,” she said quietly, “I think it’s the best way to do this, don’t you?”

Oliver nodded reluctantly. It wasn’t what he wanted, but it didn’t matter.


	14. Chapter 14

It had been an interesting couple of days. 

Chloe knew Oliver and Alice had spoken the previous night, but she had no idea what had happened or how much he had told her. All she knew was that it must have gone well because Oliver had called her that morning, asking if she would mind if the four of them had dinner tonight. 

She didn’t, of course. It was Friday and Alice was going to come over anyway since she was spending the weekend there with her because she wasn’t getting along with her roommate and Chloe was looking forward to getting to know Mia. 

They had agreed on having dinner at Chloe’s apartment for privacy purposes, but Oliver had promised he would bring the groceries and everything they would need to cook, even though Chloe suggested just ordering food a few times. 

Since she had been working from home this week not to draw attention to herself, she was looking forward to the distraction and company as well. She was mostly caught up on work and had spent some time making sure the kitchen was clean and that whatever she did have in the pantry was edible and then went to get some groceries that Oliver might need and also things Alice might want while she was staying with her. 

Mostly, she was looking forward to being around the two of them again.

Oliver drew in a breath and cast a quick glance at Mia, who was carrying one of the bags of groceries. He balanced the others in his arms and reached out to knock on the door. Somehow he had a feeling _he_ was more nervous about the evening than she was, and he knew everyone involved. 

“Sure she won’t hate me?” Mia asked in a whisper, glancing at him. 

“It’s impossible to hate you,” he said just as quietly, winking at her.

Mia gave him a look and rolled her eyes, “yeah well, she’s your daughter.” 

“Exactly. So there’s no way she’ll hate you.” 

Mia was about to say something else when the door opened and she stilled, straightening. 

“Hey,” Chloe greeted, smiling softly as she stepped back and opened the door further, “come in.” 

Oliver held his breath for a moment, then smiled back faintly. “Thanks.” He ushered Mia inside and then followed her, heading into the kitchen and setting down the bags he was carrying. 

She closed the door then followed the two of them to the kitchen, “Alice should be here soon, she just texted me she was leaving the dorms.” 

Oliver nodded a little, turning to look at her. “Great. We thought we’d make homemade pizza.” He raised his eyebrows a little, glancing at Mia. 

“Oh,” Chloe’s eyes widened and she nodded a little, “that sounds great.” 

Mia smirked and nodded, “yeah, Ollie bought every single topping anyone could ever think of.” 

“Except anchovies.” He smirked at Mia, raising his eyebrows. 

“Well, no one likes that,” she told him, making a face. 

Chloe smiled at that and nodded, “agreed,” she said then focused on Mia, “glad you could make it.”

“You are?” There was a hint of surprise, and a little uncertainty in her voice. 

“Of course,” Chloe smiled softly and nodded, “Oliver had nothing but good things to say about you and we only met briefly the other night.” 

Mia relaxed at that and smiled, glancing over at Oliver. 

He smiled back at her. “We should probably wait until Alice gets here to start the pizza. She likes to cook, too.” 

“Do you guys want to drink anything while we wait?” Chloe offered.

“Soda?” Mia asked hopefully. 

Oliver made a face. “Water’s good.” 

“Good choice,” Chloe told the girl and smiled softly, making her way to the cupboard, pausing when there was a knock on the door, “that must be Alice.” 

“I can get it, or if you just show me where you keep your glasses, I can get those,” he offered. 

“I’ll get it,” Mia offered, shrugging and starting toward the door, better to get it over with. She opened the door a moment later and arched her eyebrows, “hey.” 

Alice paused, raising her own eyebrows a little. “Hi. You must be Mia.” She held her hand out. 

Nodding slightly, Mia paused then took her hand, “yeah, and you’re Alice, right?”

She nodded a little, too, shaking Mia’s hand and then chewing on her lower lip. “Nice to meet you.” 

“You too,” she stepped aside. “We’re making pizza.” 

Alice’s eyes lit up. “Really? I haven’t done that in _ages_.” 

“Yeah?” Mia arched her eyebrows, “you used to make it from scratch then?”

“When I was little,” she admitted. 

“Cool, Ollie said you like to cook.” Mia asked, starting toward the kitchen again. 

Alice nodded slightly, following her into the kitchen. “Yeah, I enjoy it. He said you help him with a lot of that?” 

Mia shrugged and nodded, “yeah, didn’t really do any cooking before.”

She glanced at her sideways, then smiled a little when she saw Chloe and Oliver. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Oliver smiled softly at her. 

“Hey.” Chloe smiled too and held Mia’s glass to her, “here you go. Anything to drink, Alice?”

“Thanks,” Mia said, looking at Oliver.

He raised his eyebrows a little and looked between the two teenagers. “I take it you two exchanged introductions?” 

“Yeah, pretty obvious who we are though,” Mia told him. 

“Here,” Chloe said to Alice, “I’ll take your backpack to the bedroom.” 

Oliver leaned back against the counter. “I thought we could make homemade pizza for dinner.” He gazed at Alice. Mostly he’d thought it was something all of them could be involved in. 

“Thanks,” Alice said to Chloe and smiled softly, handing her the overnight bag before looking at Oliver, “yeah, Mia told me. Sounds like fun, I haven’t done that in a really long time.”

He smiled a bit. “How were classes?” 

“Good,” she nodded, grinning softly. “already have some research papers to do, Chloe said she’d help me.” 

He couldn’t help but grin back at her. “Between the two of you, I have a feeling you’ll end up with the highest grade in the class.” He paused. “Did you know Chloe was valedictorian?” 

“Yeah,” Alice grinned shyly, nodding, “she showed me pictures of her graduation, I was too.” 

Mia arched her eyebrows and sipped on her soda, staring at her glass. “I wasn’t,” he admitted, moving over to stand beside Mia. 

“Are we gonna start on the pizza? I’m hungry.” Mia told him, staring up at him. 

“I have snacks if you want, pretzels and chips,” Chloe offered as she walked back into the room. 

He draped his arm around her shoulders. “Goes well with pizza.” 

“I’ll take pretzels,” Mia said, smiling slightly at Chloe, “thanks.” 

“No problem,” Chloe said, opening the pantry and pulling out a bag of pretzels, “anyone else wants anything?”

Oliver shook his head, glancing over at Alice. 

“No, I can wait. I’m not too hungry yet.” She smiled, and started pulling things from the sacks that Mia and Ollie had brought over. 

“Alright, what do we need?” Chloe asked, “I might actually own some dishes.” She said, looking at Oliver and smiling a little. Doing her best to make sure everyone was comfortable.

He met her eyes. “A cake pan?” He swallowed hard.

She paused for a moment at the look on his face then nodded slightly, holding her breath and reaching for the drawer under the oven, “should have one.” 

Mia frowned slightly and looked over at Oliver.

Oliver pulled away from Mia and moved to clear off the kitchen table. “I’d suggest homemade pizza sauce but Mia’s _starving_ ,” he teased. 

Alice looked between Chloe and Oliver, pursing her lips. 

“Here,” she said, pulling the pan from the drawer, “and I think homemade dough sounds good enough.” 

Cocking her head, Mia glanced over at Alice and noticed a similar look on the other girl’s face. As if sensing Mia’s look, Alice looked over at her and met her eyes, raising her eyebrows a little. 

“We brought Ragu and Prego, so does anyone have a preference?” 

Mia cocked her head and smirked a little at the other girl then nodded. 

“I don’t,” Chloe said, pausing then she noticed the exchange between the girls.

“Alice? Mia?” He raised his eyebrows curiously at their expressions. 

“What?” Mia jumped, looking at him and arching her eyebrows. 

“Did we miss something?” Chloe asked, cocking her head. 

He narrowed his eyes at Mia’s look. “Pizza sauce--any preferences?” She was up to _something_. And that was scary.

“I’m good with whatever,” Alice volunteered. 

“Yeah, I am too.” Mia shrugged, avoiding looking at Oliver. 

He looked at her suspiciously. “Ragu it is.” He glanced at Chloe. 

“Works for me.” Chloe said, holding his gaze. 

He raised an eyebrow, wondering what he’d missed. 

* * *

Dinner had been awesome, they all got to make their own pizzas with whatever they wanted and they had enjoyed making it too. But Mia had noticed just how much Chloe and Oliver kept glancing at each other and looking away, like shy teenagers or something. 

So with some lame excuse to talk about MetU and college life, Mia managed to drag the older girl to the guest room so they could talk.

“So that was weird, right?” Alice raised her eyebrows as she leaned against the closed door.

“Hm, yeah I’ve never seen Oliver acting like a bigger idiot.” Mia said, eyes a little wide.

A small, amused smile touched her mouth at that. “You mean lovesick?” 

“I thought that was it,” Mia shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, “another reason to never fall in love.”

“You don’t want to fall in love?” Alice cocked her head to the side and moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. 

“No,” Mia told her, making a face like it was obvious, “have they been acting like this the whole time?”

“Pretty much,” Alice admitted, nodding a little. 

“So what do we do? I can’t watch this trainwreck forever and not do something.” She told Alice.

The blond paused, looking uncertain. “I don’t know. What are you thinking?” 

“Not sure, I mean, Ollie always talked about Chloe, even before, when they hadn’t talked in forever. And then she showed up and he didn’t even tell me he had found her, he mentioned her a couple of times, but that was it.” She told Alice.

Alice chewed her lower lip for a moment, looking wary. “It’s pretty obvious how they feel about each other. Maybe we should...help them along?” 

“Yeah, but how? We can’t exactly set them up on a date.” Mia told her.

She tilted her head. “Why not?” 

“Because they will see right through it,” She gave Alice a look, “I don’t know Chloe that well but Ollie will.”

“Chloe’s smart. She’d see through it too. Unless we were really creative about it.” 

“Creative how?” Mia asked, then paused, “she obviously is all lovesick too, right?”

“Right,” Alice agreed. “Which means we’ll have to distract them. Or at least make them think that’s what we’re doing.” She smiled.

“I can distract...” Mia arched her eyebrows and smirked, “I guess we need to make sure they are alone a lot too.”

Alice reached her hand out. “I have a feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Mia.” 

Mia hesitated then smirked a little and nodded, taking her hand, “let’s get to plotting.”

* * *

With a deep breath, Chloe shifted on the couch and glanced down the hallway toward the bedrooms, “what do you think they are up to?”

Oliver arched an eyebrow. “That’s a very good question.” 

“I guess at least they are getting along okay,” she said quietly, sipping on her soda.

He nodded, glancing over at her. “I’m pretty grateful for that.” 

“Me too,” she said quietly, “Can you tell me more about Mia?”

“Well, what do you want to know?” 

“What she likes, what she does, anything that will help me get along with her.” She told him, holding his gaze. 

He nodded slightly, chewing the inside of his cheek. “She likes to drive fast. Fast cars. Fast motorcycles.” He paused. 

“Oh,” Chloe cocked her head a little, “okay, she’s... kind of young for that, isn’t she?”

Oliver looked down for a moment. “Truthfully? Mia had to grow up pretty fast.” 

“She seemed...” Chloe paused, “slightly uncomfortable during dinner. At some points.”

“About school,” he said with a slight nod.

“Is she... not in school?” Chloe asked carefully.

“She is. But she wasn’t for a long time.” He looked at his hands.

“How did you find her?” She asked finally, not sure how to skirt around the subject anymore.

“In the mayor’s bedroom. Apparently she was his birthday present.” His jaw tightened. 

Chloe stilled at that, her eyes widening, “you mean...”

He gave a short nod and forced himself to take a deep breath. “Like I said, she grew up way too fast.” 

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, remaining quiet for a moment, “and her family?”

“Good riddance,” he responded.

“Oh,” Chloe pursed her lips together a little but stopped herself from asking any further questions on the subject, he was obviously not comfortable with it, “I’m glad you found her.”

“So am I,” he said quietly. 

“Are you okay?” She asked, her stomach tightening as she waited for the answer, she hadn’t missed the series of pained looks on his face.

“I just wish that...things had been different.” He rubbed a hand over his face. 

She stilled for a moment and looked away, “for Mia?”

“Yes.” He leaned back against the sofa. 

Chloe nodded a little, “at least you can make it better for her now,” she said quietly, glancing at him. “And you seem to be doing a good job at it.”

“I hope so,” he said softly. “I don’t always know what I’m doing.” 

“I guess that’s how parenting should feel,” she said quietly.

He winced a little. “Chloe, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...” 

Pausing, she shook her head and sat up, “no, I didn’t mean it like that.” She told him, her eyes wide as her chest tightened, “I’m-- glad you have family.” For a long time she felt terrible for giving away the one family he’d had since he was nine.

“So do you,” he said softly. “You know that, right? And I’m not just talking about Lois.” 

She pursed her lips together and glanced at him again, “thank you,” she said sincerely, “it works both ways.”

Oliver nodded slightly, holding her gaze. “Good.”

Chloe smiled slightly and nodded too before looking away, wishing she would stop feeling like they could just pick up where they’d left off, she knew it wasn’t that simple.


	15. Chapter 15

Oliver raked a hand through his hair as he climbed out of his car at Pastabilities, one of them better Italian restaurants in Metropolis. He was looking forward to dinner and spending more time with Alice and Mia and Chloe, who were meeting him there. He was running a couple of minutes late when he headed for the door, pausing when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it from his pocket and frowned a little when he saw Mia’s name on the text. 

“Not going to make dinner. Something came up. Sorry!” 

That was odd. Frowning a little, he headed into the restaurant, a bit of worry tugging at him. 

Chloe was already there, waiting at their table when she saw Oliver coming in, “hey,” she greeted, phone in hand too. 

“Hey.” He raised his eyebrows a little as he sat down across from her. “How’s it going?” 

“Okay,” she shifted a little and pursed her lips together, “Alice just told me she couldn’t make it, though,” she told him. 

He paused at that. “That’s weird. I just got a similar text from Mia.” 

Chloe cocked her head at that and arched her eyebrows, “Did she give you a reason or did she just say something came up?”

“She was vague.” He narrowed his eyes a little. 

Narrowing her eyes too, Chloe nodded, “same with Alice. I thought maybe she was upset because I spoke with Linda but...”

“But it’s more likely we’ve been played?” 

“And set up,” she agreed, pursing her lips together. 

“But for what purpose?” His eyebrows furrowed a little. 

“I don’t know,” Chloe admitted, “but they were up to something when we had dinner last week.” 

“Maybe they just decided to have a...” He hesitated a moment. “A girl’s night to themselves?” 

“They could have suggested that instead,” Chloe pointed out then paused, “unless they wanted _us_ to spend some time together?” She said quietly.

Oliver blinked at that, considering, then sitting back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his face. “Right.” 

Holding her breath, Chloe nodded slightly, “maybe they think we need to talk?” She suggested. 

He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Yeah, maybe.” 

“Or maybe they just wanted to sneak off for something else,” she added quickly. 

A wry smile touched his mouth. “I think your first inclination was probably accurate.” 

Chloe paused and took a deep breath then nodded a little, “which means we made them uncomfortable.” 

“Not necessarily,” he said softly. 

“What do you think, then?” She asked, arching her eyebrows at him.

He drew in a breath, avoiding her eyes. “I think that Mia’s trying to do what she thinks is best for me.” 

Chloe’s stomach clenched at that and she nodded slightly, “and I guess Alice agrees with her.” 

“I’ll talk to them,” he said softly. 

“Ollie,” she said quietly, taking a deep breath, “it’s not that I think it’s a bad idea...” 

“It’s complicated,” he finished.

Nodding slightly, she looked over at him. “Yeah.”

“So I’ll talk to them,” he said again.

“I can do that too,” she took a deep breath, looking over at him. 

“Okay,” he said softly, not meeting her eyes. He held his breath for a moment. “Why don’t uh--why don’t you give Lois a call?” 

Chloe paused and frowned at the suggestion, “what for?”

He managed a faint smile. “To see if she might be interested in Italian tonight.” 

Her chest tightened and her face fell a little more, “you have to go?”

“Chloe...” He swallowed hard, shaking his head. “Being around me makes _you_ uncomfortable. I can see it in your eyes.” 

“No.” She shook her head, “ _you_ don’t make me uncomfortable. I’m just not sure how to deal with this...” she said quietly, “I want us to be able to be comfortable with each other, I’m just not sure how to get there.”

“Me either,” he admitted, running his index finger along the top of his glass of water. “I’m not really used to not knowing what to do. Or not having a clue where to start.” 

Smiling slightly, she shook her head, “neither am I. But maybe having dinner is a good start. They thought it was a good idea, anyway.” She suggested, her stomach painfully tight as she waited for his reaction.

Oliver lifted his gaze to meet hers and gave her a small but real smile. “Maybe they know better than we do.” 

“Well, on this anyway,” she said, smiling a little too, “and we don’t really have any other ideas.” 

He nodded slightly, relaxing back against his chair. “Maybe we should take this opportunity to start to get to know one another again. I have a feeling there’s a lot we don’t know about each other.” 

She relaxed too and nodded, “I agree,” she arched her eyebrows, “some pretty big things actually.” 

A smirk tugged at his mouth. “Well, you already know _my_ biggest secret.” 

“Maybe I know the secret,” she agreed, “but I’m more interested in the story of how you got there.”

“Touche.” He lifted his glass to his lips and took a long drink. “It all started with the island...” 

Chloe listened as he told him about the boat accident, the island, the years he spent there and more importantly, about how he got out. “I watched the press conference,” she admitted, “and I didn’t really make the connection for a while that the woman you rescued was the one who was my boss briefly.”

He drew in a breath, nodding a little at that. “Fortunately she seems to have gotten her head on straight again. The last I heard, she’d gone back into marine biology.” 

“Yeah,” Chloe nodded, pursing her lips together, “and no offense, but we were all glad she decided to quit journalism.” More like the woman had been forced to, but she didn’t know how Oliver felt about Tess Mercer. 

A faint smile quirked his mouth. “It wasn’t her forte,” he agreed.

“I’m glad she managed to bring you back from the poison, though,” she admitted then paused, “did you ever mention knowing me to her?”

Oliver held his breath for a moment. “No, I didn’t,” he said softly. 

“Oh,” Chloe nodded, pursing her lips together, “we never really got along, I was just wondering...”

He paused. “Tess has never really been a social person,” he said carefully. “And she was angry with the world.” 

“It’s okay,” she told him, shrugging slightly, “it was a long time ago, back when Lex was still in control of the Planet.” 

He grimaced involuntarily at the name. “Right.” 

“Not one of my favorites either,” she told him, pursing her lips together.

He met her eyes, nodding a little, then leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “I didn’t love her.” His voice grew quiet.

Chloe held his gaze and stilled, pursing her lips together and holding her breath then shaking her head, “I wasn’t trying to find out anything like that, Oliver...”

“I know. But I wanted it to be clear. No room for doubt,” he said softly. 

Nodding slightly, she looked down and took a deep breath, “she wouldn’t have been good enough for you.”

Oliver felt his chest tighten at that, and he looked down, too. “Truthfully...Tess wasn’t the problem in our relationship. I was.” 

Chloe frowned at that and looked over at him, “what happened?”

“I cheated on her,” he said flatly.

She froze at that and stared at him, “ _you_ did?” That didn’t sound like the Oliver she knew at all.

He pursed his lips, nodding a little and making no effort to defend his actions. 

“Why?” She asked in a whisper.

He dropped his gaze, falling silent for a long moment. “I don’t think anything I say can really explain it.” 

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” She said sincerely then looked at him, “It just doesn’t sound like you at all.”

“Maybe I’m not the same person I used to be,” he said softly, taking a drink of his wine. 

“I don’t expect you to be,” she said quietly, “I’m not either.”

Oliver met her eyes once more. “I also don’t want to be the guy who cheats. I’ve done a lot of things over the last fifteen years I’m not exactly proud of.” 

She held his gaze and her chest tightened, her eyes tearing up slightly. “That’s why it’s so complicated, Ollie...” she picked up her glass, “it’s been almost twenty years since we saw each other and while we might still care about each other, we’re not the people we used to know anymore.”

He tried to smile, but didn’t quite manage it. “I know, Chloe. Believe me, I get it. Probably better than you think.” 

“I just don’t want you to think I’m pushing you away or... like I’m expecting anything from you. I’m not.” She sipped on her glass and took a deep breath, “I just don’t want us to ruin our second chance at... something.”

He watched her for a long moment, then pursed his lips, nodding slightly and leaning back in his chair once more. “Do you feel like...” He paused. “Like I’m expecting something from you?” 

Chloe paused at the question and pursed her lips together, considering for a moment then shaking her head, “not of me,” she said quietly, “of yourself.” 

His eyebrows furrowed at that and he cocked his head to the side. “I don’t think I know what you mean.” 

She took a deep breath, “you just seem to be very hard on yourself,” she said quietly, sitting up, “trying to be your best and to prove that you’re a good guy and... I don’t think anyone else thinks you’re not. Just you.”

He pursed his lips, listening. “I have to be,” he admitted quietly. 

“Why?” She asked, lifting her head and holding his gaze. 

“Because if I’m not, I’ll slip.” His voice was soft. “I’ll be back to that person I never want to be again.” 

“But that’s not how you used to be,” she pointed out, “and while we all change, you went through a _lot_ back then, Ollie.” 

“Everyone has hard things they’ve gone through, Chloe. I don’t get a free pass,” he responded, shaking his head. 

“No,” she agreed, “but that doesn’t mean you need to keep blaming yourself for something you did when you were young and hurting.” 

He looked down for a long moment. “There’s a lot you don’t know,” he said softly. “I’ve done a lot of things. Things I’m not proud of. Things that...” He held his breath for a moment. “That I’m not sure can ever be balanced out despite my trying really hard to make amends.” 

“What kind of things?” She asked quietly, sitting up and watching him closely. “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to and we can go somewhere else if you don’t want to talk about it here, but you might just need some outside perspective on things.”

Oliver exhaled slowly, lifting his gaze to her once more. “Somewhere else would probably be better. And safer.” 

Nodding, she took a deep breath, “let’s just get the check and I know a place,” she said quietly, searching his eyes worriedly.

Chewing the inside of his cheek, he nodded and raised his hand to wave to the waiter. Within moments, he’d paid the bill (after protesting on Chloe’s part), and they were out the door, walking down the sidewalk. “Where are we heading?” he murmured. 

“Over there,” she said quietly, nodding toward a very tall building just ahead of them, “I found that place by accident once and... I find it calming.” 

He looked up, raising his eyebrows a little as he stared at the tallest building in the city. “How did you find it by accident?” 

Chloe chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, “I knew it was there, obviously.,it’s kind of hard to miss,” she smiled a little then looked up at the building again and took a deep breath. “Dad wasn’t doing well and I had decided to go for a walk, I wasn’t really paying attention where I was going and it started snowing so I walked up the front stairs, leaned against the door and it opened.” 

She took a deep breath, “it looked abandoned but somehow it still had electricity so I took the elevator up to the roof because I had always wanted to see the view from up there and... I’ve been coming here since.” 

“And you don’t know who owns it?” His eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “the family hasn’t been in Kansas in years, they were in Metropolis since the 20s, but the younger generations relocated to Indiana.” 

He nodded at that, sliding his hands in his pockets. “I’m guessing it’s a pretty quiet place.” 

“It is,” she told him, walking up the steps and pushing the door open, “you can actually see all the way to Smallville from up there. It’s hard to tell most of the year, but you can see the carnival when it’s there.” She told him, smiling a little.

“Wow,” he commented, glancing at her sideways, a soft smile on his face, as well. 

Chloe smiled a little when she saw his smile and nodded, she’d brought him there because she knew that whatever he was about to tell her wasn’t going to be easy on him and she wanted him to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible. “I’ll have to show you next year.”

“I’d like that,” he said softly, reaching out and opening the door for her after they climbed the steps to the entrance.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, chewing on her bottom lip as she made her way to the elevator, “you know what this reminds me of?”

He cocked his head to the side. “What does it remind you of?” 

“That night I dragged you to the Creekside Foundry in Smallville,” she smiled softly, stepping into the elevator, “when I was investigating... Greg?” She paused, “I think his name was Greg. He had gotten infected there.”

A faint smile touched his mouth, and he nodded. “Yeah. I do remember that.” He followed her onto the elevator, his eyes a little brighter than before. “That was a good night.” 

“Well, until we almost got caught, anyway,” she grinned softly, her chest warmer than it had been in a long time. 

“Almost being the keyword.” His lips curled upward a little more. “Overall, it was a great night.” 

“Yeah, somehow we always managed to sneak out just in time,” she told him, leaning against the elevator wall as they made their way up to the top floor.

“For teenagers, we had impressively good instincts.” He flashed her a grin.

“Well they came in handy for both of us,” she pointed out, smiling up at him.

“Yes, they did. Ms. Big Shot Reporter,” he teased softly.

“Uh huh Mr. Superhero,” she teased back, “ _that_ is really impressive.”

He shook his head a little. “I don’t think you can technically call me a _super_ hero.” 

“Superpowers or super gadgets, they both help you save lives,” she pointed out, arching her eyebrows at him, “you saved mine even before you started wearing the green leather more than once.”

He smiled a bit. “I think you might be overstating. I may have helped you get out of trouble a few times, but you would’ve gotten along without me.” 

“Well I’m glad I didn’t have to find out,” she said sincerely, smiling up at him.

Oliver held his breath for a moment. “Me too,” he admitted softly.

She held his gaze for a moment then looked away when the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open, “come on, it’s dusty so be careful what you touch.”

He nodded, following her inside and looking around, his eyes widening a little at the stained glass windows. “Wow,” he murmured. 

“Yeah,” she grinned softly then started toward the side stairs, “wait until you see it from up there, c’mon.” She told him.

Oliver raised his eyebrows, taking the steps two at a time behind her. “All the way to Smallville, huh?” 

“You can see if for yourself,” she pushed the glass door open and stepped out onto the roof, turning around instantly so she could watch his reaction.

He held his breath as he stepped outside, looking around with an expression of amazement on his face. “Wow.” 

Her face brightened and she grinned softly, nodding, “and if you sit on the floor, you can’t hear or see anything,” she told him quietly.

“Unless you’re with someone else.” 

Her chest tightened a little and she nodded, “I never brought anyone else here,” she admitted, glancing over at him.

“Not even Lois?” His voice registered faint surprise.

Pursing her lips together, she shook her head a little, “she’s seen the view enough time via air Superman,” she told him, looking out at the city. 

“Thank you for bringing me here,” he said softly.

“Welcome.” She murmured, shrugging a little and smiling softly, “glad I was able to.”

He held his breath at that, then slowly moved to sit down on the floor. 

“Wait,” she told him, walking back to the door and pulling out a bag from the corner and a sheet from inside of it, “here,” she told him, placing the sheet on the floor, “I did mention I’ve been here a few times, right?”

He raised his eyebrows, then smiled a little as he sat down atop the sheet. “What else do you have in there?” he asked.

“That’s it,” she admitted, sitting down on the other end of the sheet, “I brought this a few months ago, I came by to work on a story and just ended up leaving it here.”

“Oh. I’m surprised you didn’t bring in a coffee maker,” he said lightly, winking at her. 

She paused at that and arched her eyebrows, “you know, not a bad idea...” she told him then smirked softly.

He chuckled, leaning back against the wall and then looking out over the city. “This is definitely one hell of a view.” 

“I agree,” she said quietly, taking a deep breath and looking up at the sky.

A moment of silence passed between them and he cast a sideways glance at her. “I’m really sorry about your dad.” 

Chloe held her breath at that and nodded a little, “thank you,” she said quietly, glancing at him, “he would have liked to have seen you again.”

His chest tightened. “I would’ve liked that, too,” he admitted, looking down. 

“He always commented about stories on you,” she told him, smiling slightly, “I guess it was his way of nudging me into contacting you.”

“Your dad was a great man,” he told her sincerely. “I always liked him a lot.” 

“He cared a lot about you too,” Chloe smiled a little, “I think when they took you away, it was as hard on him as it was on me.”

“I wanted to come for the funeral,” he confessed. “I just...wasn’t sure it was a good idea. And I didn’t want to risk it turning into some big media circus.” 

She nodded a little and pulled her knees up against her chest, “I would have liked to have you here,” she admitted, “but I understand. I wondered if you had read about it at all.”

“I did,” he murmured. “I uh...I actually sent flowers.” 

“You did?” She paused, cocking her head a little and turning to look at him curiously.

“Anonymously,” he told her. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it, and...again, didn’t want to risk the media finding out.” 

Her eyes widened slightly with realization, “the really big arrangement? All white?” She asked.

He held his breath, nodding slightly. 

“Oh,” her face softened even as her chest tightened, “thank you.” Chloe said sincerely. “It was beautiful.”

“I had to do _something_ ,” he whispered.

Chloe swallowed hard and nodded a little, silently reaching over to his hand and squeezing it lightly, not really trusting her voice.

He looked down at their hands, then hesitated before threading his fingers through hers. 

She smiled slightly at that and looked down at their hands too for a moment then took a deep breath and looked back up to the sky.

He gazed at her intently for a long moment, then did the same, staring up. He wondered if he was too old to wish on stars.


	16. Chapter 16

They had been sitting there in silence for a long moment, still holding hands, it was... comfortable. And she couldn’t help but remember all of the times they had just sat like this when they were younger, even before they ever got together. Whenever one of them was having a particularly bad day or something had happened, it had been comforting to be able to do that with your best friend. 

Still, she knew there was a reason why she had brought him there and while she didn’t want to upset him, if they were going to get anywhere with this and if she was going to be able to make him see that he _was_ a good person, she was going to have to get him to talk. 

“Ollie?” She said quietly, glancing over at him. 

“Yeah?” He glanced over at her, as well. 

“Did you still want to talk about what you mentioned at the restaurant?” She asked quietly, sitting up a little. 

He drew in a slow breath. “Right,” he murmured, looking out over the city once more. 

She pursed her lips together and sat back once again, giving him time. 

“Do you remember when we first met?” he asked quietly.

“Of course,” she said quietly, “right after you were transferred.” 

“I never told you why they made me transfer.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. 

Chloe paused at that and shook her head a little, “no, you didn’t.”

He was quiet for a moment, then he began to speak. “I was in school with Lex,” he said softly. “My parents and his parents used to run in the same social circles, but Lex and I never really got along.” He paused. “It got bad at school.” 

“What happened?” She asked quietly, glancing over at him. 

“We picked on him. Relentlessly. Me and a couple others.” He chewed the inside of his cheek. 

Chloe paused at that and nodded a little, “I guess that explains why you two never got along when he came to Smallville.” She said quietly.

“There’s more,” he said, his voice growing more quiet. He told her about Lex’s high school friend Duncan, about how they had all picked on him, as well. “All they wanted was to be accepted and left alone.” 

“That’s what every kid wants in high school, Ollie...” she told him. 

“Not every kid is Lex Luthor,” he responded, staring blankly out over Metropolis. “One day he just snapped right in front of us.” He swallowed hard. “He started beating the hell out of Duncan.” 

Chloe’s eyes widened a little at that, “what did he do?” 

“It took all three of us to pull Lex off him. When he got up, he was unsteady. He told Lex to go to hell. Told us _all_ to go to hell.” He shut his eyes. “Then he took off. To cross the street. I don’t think he even realized he was on the road.” He swallowed hard.

“On the road?” She echoed. 

“It all happened so fast,” he whispered. “There wasn’t time to yell a warning.” 

“Oh,” she blinked a couple of times, pursing her lips together, she could only assume the boy hadn’t made it, “what did Lex do?”

“Nothing. We all just stood there in shock,” he said softly, rubbing a hand over his face. 

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, pursing her lips together, “I’m sure that must have been hard on all of you.”

“I can’t really imagine how hard it must have been on his _family_. Lionel, of course, did everything he could to cover up Lex’s involvement. He paid them off, paid all the funeral costs. My guardians moved me to Smallville to get _me_ away from it.” 

“I can’t imagine how hard it was on their family,” she agreed quietly, “but even then and from day one, you were a good guy, Ollie. No matter how upset or haunted by all this you were.” 

“Maybe,” he said doubtfully. “But it was too little, too late for Duncan.” 

“But not for you,” she said quietly. 

* * *

**August 27, 2003**

Oliver drew in a deep breath as he looked around the crowded hallways of Smallville High. It was a world of difference from Excelsior, that was certain. He’d never attended a public school before. He wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but he wasn’t used to big crowds of people. And considering the name of the town was _Smallville_ , he hadn’t expected there to be this many people. 

“I _told_ you,” Chloe said, holding her backpack to her chest as she glared up at the football player that was three times taller than her, “I had evidence for the story and I will use it. You should have thought about this _before_ cheating your way into the team.”

He glared back down at her. “If you run that article, it’ll be the last one you run,” he warned her. 

“Try and stop me,” she told him, “I wouldn’t expect someone like you to have heard about the freedom of the press.”

“You really want to piss off _every_ football player at this school? Seems like it might be kind of hazardous to your health, Sullivan,” he said darkly, shifting closer to her and getting in her face. 

“Keep threatening me,” she said, smirking even though her heart was racing, “I promise you you will not get away with this either.”

He smirked back at her, lowering his face toward hers. “Your funeral.” 

Chloe slid a hand into her pocket and pulled out a recorder, “your expulsion and chance of any kind of future outside of the prison system.”

He reached out and grabbed the recorder from her, pitching it to the ground. 

Before he had a chance to say anything, a hand came down on his shoulder and he turned to see a guy who was a couple inches taller than him, his expression stormy. 

“You have a problem?” he demanded. 

The guy’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, and I’m looking at him.” 

She took a step back and held her breath, she’d been ready to run, but stopped when she saw the guy she didn’t recognize.

Oliver looked down at the broken recorder, and then back at the other guy. “First off, you can apologize to her for breaking her equipment. Then you can apologize to her for being an asshole.” 

“I’m not going to.” he said, “until this bitch stops lying.”

“I have _proof_ , it’s not lying and the whole school will hear about it.”

Oliver shoved the guy against the lockers behind them, narrowing his eyes. “I said _apologize_.” 

“It’s fine,” Chloe told him, placing a hand on the new guy’s shoulder, “he knows he’s screwed.”

He glanced back at her, meeting the greenest eyes he’d ever seen before and holding his breath for a moment before looking back at the football player. “I see you or any of your jock buddies harassing her or anyone else again, we’re going to have a serious problem.” 

The football player pushed him out of the way then started down the hallway, stepping on the recorder once more on his way. 

Oliver’s jaw tightened and he moved to follow the guy.

“Wait,” Chloe said, lifting a hand to his arm to stop him, “it’s fine,” she whispered, looking down at the recorder, “that was just a case.” 

He paused, looking down at her once more. “He still owes you an apology.” 

“I don’t care,” she told him, “I have his death threats on the real recorder,” she said, shrugging, “I’ll take it to the principal if it comes to it.”

He searched her eyes for a moment, then nodded reluctantly, watching the guy head down the hallway. 

“Thank you,” she told him, smiling a little, “I guess you’re new here?”

Oliver pursed his lips, nodding slightly. “Yeah. First day.” 

“Well, welcome to the hell most people call Smallville,” she told him, holding out her hand, “I’m Chloe.”

He smiled involuntarily at that, shaking her hand. “I’m Oliver.” 

“Do you usually protect random strangers from assholes, Oliver?” She asked, smiling softly. 

He paused, then shook his head. “Not usually,” he said softly, guilt tugging at him.

“Well, thanks for making an exception,” she told him, grinning a little. 

Oliver ducked his head a little, smiling a bit once more. “You’re welcome, Chloe.” 

She nodded a little, smiling back at him, “it’s a pretty small school but if you need help finding your way around, I can help.”

“I’d appreciate that, actually. I didn’t really have time to figure out where things were when I registered here.” 

“Okay,” she grinned softly, “gives me the opportunity to repay you, if you don’t mind stopping by the newspaper first so I can hide my proof?” 

“I think I can handle that.” He smiled back softly, shifting his backpack to the other shoulder. 

“This way,” she told him, starting toward the stairs, “when did you move here?”

“Last week,” he told her, following closely.

“Where from?” She asked curiously. 

He hesitated for a second. “California.” 

“Oh,” she made a face, “why did you get forced to come here? Parents?”

“Sort of. Guardians.” 

“Oh,” Chloe arched her eyebrows a little, “that sucks, it was bad enough moving here from Metropolis, it must suck even more having to leave California.”

“You know, I had a feeling you were a city girl,” Oliver told her with a grin. 

“Well, good. I would have been offended if you thought I was a farm girl.” She made a face. 

He chuckled. “You don’t have the farm girl vibe.” 

Chloe sighed in mock relief and nodded, “glad someone from the outside is still able to tell.”

“Completely obvious,” he assured her with an amused smirk. 

She paused and looked over at him, grinning softly, “I think we’ll get along okay, Oliver.” 

He glanced at her, his smile bright. “I think so, too.” 

* * * 

“My point is,” she went on, turning slightly on the sheet so she was facing his side, “you have always had it in you.” 

He sighed softly, turning his head to look at her. “Maybe.” 

Chloe took a deep breath and held his gaze, “I knew you after that,” she said quietly, “and I know you went through a lot after with being taken away and the island and everything your guardians did to you,” her chest tightened as she spoke, wishing even more that she had gone to find him back then. “Did something else big happen?”

“I’m actually a little surprised that Clark hasn’t said anything.” He held his breath, staring straight ahead once more.

She watched him closely for a moment and shook her head, “Clark and I aren’t very close anymore,” she let out a breath, “I never told him about Alice and... it was just easier to push him away.”

“The explosion that killed Lex.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I was responsible for it.” 

Chloe stilled and stared at him, sitting up and holding her breath, “you were?”

He gave a short nod. “Do you know about his 33.1 projects?” 

Pursing her lips together, she nodded, “of course.”

“We were infiltrating them,” he admitted quietly. “One at a time. Releasing the prisoners, blowing up the facilities once they were cleared.” 

Her eyes widened even more, “I heard about it,” she whispered, “I wanted to help. I even asked Clark about it but... of course he shut me down and told me to stay out of it.”

His jaw tightened at that. “Yeah, Clark’s of the firm belief that only people with superpowers can handle things.” 

Her eyes narrowed slightly at that, “I’m guessing the two of you still don’t get along?”

“Understatement.” He raised his eyebrows at that. “We couldn’t be more different.” 

“We’ll get back to Clark,” she sat up, her voice firm, “tell me what happened with Lex.”

“He got me on video. Figured out my identity.” He glanced at her sideways. “Which in and of itself wasn’t the end of the world.” He looked away once more. “Except he threatened Mia.” 

She paused and let out her breath, nodding, “so you went after him.”

“I took it to the League first. They weren’t willing to do anything about it. So I did.” 

“Why?” She pressed, “why did you decide this was the only solution?”

“Because it was the only solution, Chloe,” he said quietly. “It was the only way I knew for sure that I could keep her safe.” 

Chloe stared at him for a moment and took a deep breath, “Lex was... a horrible human being,” she told him, shaking her head, “but...”

“But what I did was murder,” he finished, not looking at her. 

“Yes,” she whispered, pursing her lips together and looking away from him.

He nodded silently, not surprised by her reaction. It was what he’d been expecting. 

She ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath, focusing her gaze on the floor. He had been through a lot and she knew that, all of his life since his parents died and even before then... he had never had a normal, quiet life. And that was even more true than she realized with everything he was telling her now. 

But that didn’t excuse him, like he said, from doing what he did. The bullying and the cheating she’d been willing to shrug it off, to let it go because she thought the Oliver she had fallen in love with almost two decades ago was still there and that he was just a good person with a really hard life. 

Murder, however, wasn’t really something she could overlook. Even if it had been Lex, even if he had had his reasons, she couldn’t help but wonder if the Oliver she’d known wasn’t really just gone.

After several moments of silence, he shut his eyes for a moment, then released her hand. “I should get going.” His voice was quiet as he slowly rose to his feet.

Her chest tightened at the immediate loss she felt when he let go of her hand, but she nodded slightly.

His chest tightened when she didn’t protest. But he got it. He gazed down at her for a moment, his eyes sad. “Goodnight,” he said softly, heading back inside the building.

“Goodnight,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin over her knee, not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.


	17. Chapter 17

The insistent knocking on the doorway definitely would have woken him had he been asleep. But he’d been up all night, standing on the balcony of the hotel suite he and Mia were staying in. Mia had passed out an hour or two before, right after their patrol. He hadn’t brought up the staged dinner date that she and Alice had arranged, and she had wisely chosen not to bring it up, either. His mood was stormy as he stared down at the mostly empty glass of whiskey in his hand. So when the knock sounded, he blinked a few times in confusion, then slowly headed toward the door before whoever it was could wake Mia. 

Figuring it was someone confusing their room with his, he didn’t bother looking out the peephole, simply pulled it open and grew still when he found Chloe there.

She held her breath and looked up at him, she’d known he and Mia were still at the hotel to avoid the press paying attention to the Clocktower and their neighborhood since Chloe also lived there. 

Chloe had sat down on the roof for the past few hours, trying to process what everything had meant, when she left, she had found herself heading to the Metropolitan rather than home and when she noticed the light inside the room was still on, she found herself knocking, “can we talk?’ She asked quietly.

He swallowed hard, holding his breath as he stepped aside silently to let her in, then slowly shut the door behind her. He started to lock the door on instinct, but thought better of it, and turned to face her instead, trying to brace himself.

“Do you regret it?” She whispered, holding his gaze but keeping her arms wrapped around herself.

He instantly diverted his eyes. “No,” he lied softly. “I don’t.” 

Her eyes narrowed when his mouth twitched, “you’re lying,” she said quietly but firmly. She had known that about him for a long time.

“Whether I regret it or not doesn’t really matter, Chloe.” 

“Yes, it does. Answer me.” She pushed.

“Why?” He shook his head. “What good does it do? I can’t undo what’s already done.” 

“Because it means you wouldn’t consider something like that again, because it means you know you’re not the monster he managed to turn you into like I’m sure he wanted to.” She pushed, taking a step closer.

“I can’t say that,” he said quietly. “Because I don’t know that I wouldn’t do it the same way if I had to make that choice all over again.” 

“I _need_ to know how you feel about it, Oliver.” 

Oliver stared at her for a long moment. “Do I wish I didn’t have the blood of two different people on my hands? Yeah. I wish that. But I know myself well enough to know that if it comes down to a decision between saving someone like Lex or saving someone I love? I’ll do what I have to do. Do I hate that it’s that easy for me to say that? Yes. But I don’t believe wishes and dreams come true, so I have to live with what I’ve done because there’s nothing else I _can_ do.” 

Her jaw and chest tightened and her expression grew blank as he spoke, nodding slightly, she took a deep breath and held his gaze, “thank you.”

Her blank expression made his jaw tighten. “What if Lex had been threatening Alice?” 

Chloe stilled at that and looked down then back at him, expression still the same, “that’s what made me come,” she told him, taking a deep breath, “I wouldn’t even try to stop myself from going after him.”

“It doesn’t mean you’d enjoy it, or that you didn’t wish you didn’t have to do what you had to do,” he said quietly.

Nodding slightly, she watched him closely, “but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do everything to protect her.”

“Exactly.” His chest tightened, his tension turning to weariness. He moved away from her, rubbing his hands over his face and moving to pick up his glass, downing the rest of his drink.

“Thank you for telling me,” she said quietly, dropping her arms to her sides as she kept her eyes on him.

“You deserved to know the truth.” 

“And I do,” she pursed her lips together, “but you never asked me anything about me.”

“I’m assuming you haven’t committed murder, so anything less than that and I can’t really say much, can I?” His voice was a little sharper than he’d intended.

Her chest tightened and she looked down then back at him, “we can talk later,” she told him, “if you want to.”

He winced. “Chloe, I’m sorry. That didn’t really--I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” 

“It’s been a long night, Oliver.” She took a deep breath, “and emotional. You should get some rest.”

He doubted that he’d be getting any sleep in the near future, but he simply nodded and looked down at the floor.

Nodding slightly, she stared at him for a moment, “let me know when you’re ready to talk.” She offered, her chest tight as she turned toward the door.

“Chloe?” 

She paused and glanced over her shoulder but not at him.

“I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t,” she told him, turning toward him this time. “I have plenty of regrets too.”

His chest was tight as he gazed back at her. 

She held his gaze for a moment then turned for the door once more, this time making her way out of the room without hesitating.

Oliver watched her go silently, and he couldn’t help but wonder if one of the regrets she had was ever meeting him in the first place.

* * * 

It was three days before he built up the courage to go and see her. And when he saw the light on in her apartment a little before two in the morning, he couldn’t wait any longer. He knocked lightly on the glass door that separated her apartment from her balcony and waited.

Chloe was, unsurprisingly, working. She had spent most of the past few days doing that and when she heard the knock on her door she jumped and immediately assumed it was Clark because something had happened with her cousin. 

Without stopping to consider the fact that she was wearing a thigh-long nightgown and nothing else, she made her way to the balcony and pulled the curtains open, then stilled when she saw someone in green, not red and blue as she’d been expecting.

He held his breath as she gazed at him through the glass door, his gaze sweeping over her figure involuntarily. 

Chloe stared at him for a moment then with a deep breath, stepped forward, unlocking and pushing the sliding glass door open, “come in.” 

“Are you sure?” His voice was husky, even with the distorter on.

“Yes,” she said quietly, swallowing hard as he gaze went to his arms.

Oliver nodded, then slowly stepped inside her apartment, sliding his hood off when the curtains were in place once more. 

She chewed on her bottom lip then turned toward him, not missing how shiny his skin was, he had probably been out there for a while, “do you want water or something?”

“Or something,” he murmured almost inaudibly. 

“Are you planning on leaving the same way you came?” She asked.

“I hadn’t really planned that far ahead.” 

“I have juice, soda, water and wine,” she told him, shifting slightly. She had some other, stronger, choices, but she wasn’t about to offer him and let him leave after.

He drew in a breath, shaking his head a little. “I’m all right.” 

Nodding she walked over to the couch and picked up some papers off it, “have a seat.”

“I’m sweaty,” he admitted. “I’ll stand.” 

“I don’t care,” she told him, “but I can get you a towel if you want one.”

He shook his head silently, watching her for a moment. “Is this a good time? Or would you rather wait?” 

“We can talk,” she told him, hesitating before sitting down.

Oliver picked up on her hesitation instantly, his chest tightening. “If you’re sure.” 

“I think we’ve waited long enough,” she told him, pulling a pillow on her lap.

He looked down at that, then leaned back against the wall. 

She sighed deeply and looked down at her lap, holding her hands together over the pillow, “look, Oliver. I know you have a lot of guilt and I know life was never easy on you,” she said quietly, “and I’m sorry about how I reacted to everything you told me at first but I wanted to let you know that... I have given everything a lot of thought and I still can’t think of you as a bad person. As someone I wouldn’t want in my life or for Alice to have in hers.”

His chest tightened painfully at that and he held his breath for a long moment. “You don’t owe me any apologies, Chloe,” he said just as quietly. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

“Yes, I did,” she told him, shaking her head a little, “I feel like you are blaming yourself for so much, things that haven’t affected any of us, but you don’t see that you’re not the only one who made mistakes, Oliver.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head a little. “I’m not even sure what you’re talking about right now,” he admitted.

“I feel like you told me all those things so I could judge you,” she took a deep breath, “so I could make an informed decision on whether or not I would want you around and I feel like I owe you the same sincerity.”

Oliver averted his gaze, guilt sweeping over him. “Chloe...” 

“Don’t, Oliver, just... listen to me, okay?” She took a deep breath, “I don’t want you to think you’re the only one who made mistakes.”

“I don’t think that,” he said honestly. “But if you have things you want to say, I’ll listen.” 

“Thank you,” she told him quietly, taking a deep breath and looking down, her chest tight. “A couple of weeks before Alice was born,” she started, not looking at him. “Dad and I were supposed to meet with the adoptive parents and the lawyers to finalize everything.” 

She paused for a moment, “dad went to work that morning, I wasn’t going to class anymore and Lois showed up at the apartment. I was a mess and... we talked for a long time and Lois just wanted us to leave. To take off and hide from your lawyers so we wouldn’t have to give the baby up. She confessed to me that she and my dad had even talked about this and he said he wished I would do that and... as much as I wanted to, I said no.”

He held his breath at that, his stomach tight with sadness and regret. “You did the right thing, Chloe,” he whispered. “You know that, right?” 

“No,” she told him, pursing her lips together as her eyes teared up, “I should have gone with Lois, Oliver. And I should have come to find you. I’m glad she had a good family and I’m glad she’s okay, but not a single day went by that I didn’t regret letting her go.”

Oliver shut his eyes for a long moment, trying to find the words to express himself, but shaking his head. “I don’t know what to say,” he admitted quietly.

“You don’t have to say anything, I just, I needed to tell you that, even though there is nothing we can do to change it,” she took a deep breath, “what happened obviously really... shook both of us up.” 

He opened his eyes once more and slowly pushed himself away from the wall, moving so he was kneeling in front of her. 

Her face softened and she lifted her head a little to look at him, her chest tight. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“Don’t do that,” she said quietly, shaking her head, “it’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours, either.” 

Holding her breath, she nodded slightly and looked down, “I know,” she sighed softly, “I just still wish things were different.” 

His eyes were filled with sadness. “Me too. But they’re not,” he said quietly.

Chloe looked at him again and pursed her lips together, her chest tightening even more when she saw the look on his face, “you never got over it either, did you?” She whispered. 

Oliver wasn’t sure he’d ever gotten over anything that had happened in his life: his parents’ death, losing Alice, loving Chloe, being responsible for Duncan’s death, killing Lex. His shoulders slumped a little and he dropped his head, falling silent.

Her face fell and she slid forward on the couch, cupping his cheek with one hand as she lifted the other one to his arm. He took a slow, deep breath, reluctantly looking up at her once more, this time with tears in his eyes. 

Her own eyes teared up and she slid off the couch and to the floor, kneeling in front of him and wrapping her arms tightly around him. Oliver wrapped his arms around her just as tightly, burying his face against her neck as he shut his eyes again.

She turned her head and rested it against his shoulder, closing her eyes too and holding him close, “I’m so sorry, Ollie,” she whispered. 

“Me too,” he whispered back, tightening his arms around her just a little. 

Chloe turned her head a little more and kissed his cheek softly, “I’m so sorry you were alone.”

He held his breath when her lips brushed against his cheek, and he slid one hand up to cup the back of her head before slowly pulling away to look at her. Holding her breath, she turned her head when he pulled away and looked up at him, keeping her arms around him. 

His thumb brushed lightly over her cheek as he searched her eyes silently. She held his gaze, her stomach clenching as she shifted slightly closer to him. His eyes darkened a little as she moved closer, and he leaned in, pressing a tender kiss to the corner of her mouth, letting his lips linger there.

Chloe closed her eyes once again and turned her head slightly, pressing her lips against his gently. A soft groan escaped him as he moved his mouth over hers lightly, not wanting to push her into anything she didn’t want, or wasn’t sure about. 

She kissed him for a moment longer then broke the kiss and pulled back slightly, looking up at him, her eyes still teary. He held his breath at the look on her face, then leaned in, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She leaned closer to him and sighed softly, closing her eyes again, “I’m glad you came by,” she whispered. 

Oliver managed a faint smile at that and pulled her close once more, resting his chin atop her head. “Me too.” 

Chloe turned her head and brushed her nose against his chin then sighed softly. 

“It’s always been you,” he whispered. “You know that, right?” 

Her face crumpled at that and she lifted her head slowly to look at him, “you too,” she whispered, her voice wavering. 

He lifted his hand to her cheek, leaning his forehead against hers.

She brushed her nose against his and held his gaze. 

“We’re okay?” he asked softly.

“I hope we’ll be,” she whispered, searching his eyes, she knew neither of them were anywhere near okay. 

Swallowing hard, he nodded a little, kissing her cheek softly and closing his eyes.

She closed her eyes too and remained quiet for a moment, “you’re not going anywhere, right?”

“Not if you don’t want me to,” he murmured.

“I don’t,” she breathed, pulling back to look at him again. 

“Then I’m not going anywhere,” he promised softly, searching her eyes.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, holding his gaze. 

“Thank _you_ ,” he answered sincerely.

She lifted a hand to his cheek and touched his face softly, watching him for a moment then smiling a little, “so it worked.” 

He smiled faintly, brushing his nose against hers and then kissing her lightly. “Chloe Sullivan, miracle worker.” 

“Me?” She shook her head, “I was referring to Alice’s and Mia’s plan.”

“Oh.” He smiled a bit more, nodding.

Chloe watched him for a moment longer then leaned in and kissed him once more, softly. 

“I love you,” he whispered against her mouth.

She paused for a moment and swallowed hard as she pulled away from him, she had started to relax but her chest was tight once more, “I love you too,” she whispered. She always had. 

“We’ll figure the rest out,” he said softly, holding her gaze.

“We will,” she whispered, searching his eyes.


	18. Chapter 18

Mia paced impatiently on the floor of the hotel as she listened to the phone ring against her ear, “please don’t be dead,” she muttered anxiously. Oliver’s mood had been absolutely horrible the past few days and he had barely even spoken to her or slept. And now he was gone and she knew for sure he hadn’t been back since he went on patrol because his uniform was nowhere to be seen. 

“Seriously, pick up, Oliver.” She said again. 

He pressed his cell phone to his ear, grunting. “‘llo?” 

“Oh thank God,” Mia said, “where are you?”

He blinked a few times, then looked over at the clock on Chloe’s nightstand. It was a little after 11. _Holy crap._ “I’m at Chloe’s.” 

Chloe woke up slowly and turned toward him, squinting a little. 

“At _Chloe’s_?” Mia gasped.

He reached out and gently tucked some hair behind Chloe’s ear. “Yes,” he answered Mia. “Everything’s fine. I didn’t mean to worry you.” 

“Okay,” Mia took a deep breath, “I’ll just... see you later, whenever.” 

Chloe leaned into his touch and closed her eyes again, sighing softly as she relaxed. 

“Are you all right?” he asked Mia softly, his gaze on Chloe’s face. 

“Yeah, feel better now that I know you’re still breathing,” she smirked, “seriously, I’ll talk to you later. I don’t wanna hear you while you’re naked. It’s gross.” 

He couldn’t help the snort that escaped him as she hung up. He shook his head and set his phone under his pillow. 

With a deep breath, Chloe opened her eyes again and turned to face him, “everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” he assured her, shifting closer and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “She was just checking on me.” 

“Mia?” She asked quietly, wrapping an arm around him. 

“Yeah.” He let out a breath. “She didn’t want to talk to me while I was naked.” He smirked involuntarily.

Chloe smirked and shook her head, “well, did you tell her you’re not completely naked?” She asked. 

“No,” he admitted, amused. 

“Of course you didn’t,” she smiled softly, and watched him, “did you sleep okay?”

“I slept great,” he said with a slight nod. Better than he’d slept in years, really. “How about you?” 

“Me too,” she said quietly, “hadn’t slept this well in a long time.” 

He smiled softly, gazing at her. “I’d forgotten,” he murmured. “What it was like to wake up next to you.” 

She smiled too and nodded, taking a deep breath, “me too,” she whispered, “and how much I missed it.”

Oliver kissed her softly on the mouth. “And how gorgeous you are when you’re waking up.” 

“And how much of a flirt you are,” she muttered, smiling against his lips.

He grinned involuntarily. “Only because it’s true.” 

She grinned too and pulled away to look at him holding his gaze, “you still look a lot like you did when we were in school.”

“And you’ve gotten even more beautiful,” he informed her honestly.

Chloe smiled softly and kissed the corner of his mouth gently, “I also forgot how nice it feels to just be around you.”

He smiled back, brushing his nose over hers. “Are you hungry?” 

“Yeah,” she paused and arched her eyebrows, “would you be interested in making pancakes?”

He grinned, kissing her. “I would, in fact.” 

“Yay,” she grinned, wrapping her arms around him, “I did miss your pancakes.” 

“I missed making them for you,” he admitted. 

“I think I have everything for it,” she told him quietly, brushing her hand over his bare back. It was weird how comfortable they were with each other, all they had done the previous night was talk and hold each other, but when they both got tired, there hadn’t been a second’s hesitation before crawling into bed together and falling asleep with him had been as comfortable and peaceful as she remembered it being. 

“Okay.” He kissed her softly once more, reluctantly pulling away from her and sitting up in the bed. He rubbed his hands over his face, yawning and then rose to his feet. “Pancakes coming right up.” 

Chloe stretched slowly and looked over at him, nodding, “I’ll be right there.”

“Good. I think I need my muse to cook.” 

“According to Mia, you’ve been doing okay,” she told him, smiling softly and running her fingers over her hair as she sat up.

“Yeah, well. I have a feeling I’ll be fixing food that’s more than ‘okay’ now.” 

“Well, I think I still remember the pancakes you used to make so I can compare.” She smiled, looking up at him.

He smiled softly, holding her gaze. “Good to know.” 

Chloe took a deep breath then stood up, walking up to him and wrapping her arms around his neck before kissing him.

A soft groan escaped him and he wound his arms around her waist, pulling her closer against him as he slowly deepened the kiss.

She pressed her body against his as close as she could and cocked her head slightly as she kiss deepening. Seeing him standing there, smiling at her, it just made her feel like he really _was_ there, with her again. Like he had been wanting to be with her all this time, like she had wished she could have been with him.

Oliver trailed one hand slowly up her spine and threaded into her hair before breaking the kiss and pressing his mouth against her jaw. “You’re making it very difficult for me to want to _cook_ ,” he murmured against her skin.

Chloe smiled softly and shivered then pulled back to look at him, “not my intention.” She smiled, lifting a hand to his cheek and brushing her thumb over it, “just glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” he said softly, turning his head and kissing the palm of her hand tenderly.

She watched him and held her breath then kissed his cheek softly.

He shut his eyes, leaning into the kiss and swallowing hard. 

Chloe smirked softly at his reaction then pulled back, looking up at him.

He narrowed his eyes at her smirk, slowly sliding his hand under her shirt and up her back, bare skin against bare skin. 

“I guess you haven’t changed that much,” she smirked more, shifting closer and brushing her nose to his.

“Sounds like you’re kind of happy about that,” he murmured.

“How could I not be?” She asked, dropping her hand from his neck to his bare back and brushing her fingers over his skin.

He held his breath at that, pressing his mouth to her jaw once more, nibbling lightly. She closed her eyes and slid her fingers into his hair as she ran her other hand further down his back.

He shuddered involuntarily. “Playing a dangerous game there, Gorgeous,” he informed her, nipping lightly on her earlobe.

“I’m willing to wait for pancakes if you are,” she told him, taking a deep breath then pulling her head back to look at him.

He paused, gazing at her intently. “You sure?” His voice was soft.

Chloe held his gaze and nodded slightly, “we have wasted a lot of time already.”

Oliver licked his lips, nodding silently in agreement, then shifting closer to her once more, dipping his head and kissing her mouth.

She kissed him back once more, deeply and without holding back this time.

He didn’t hold back either, bending down and picking her up, his arms winding around her tightly as he carried her back to the bed. She grinned softly against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck again as he picked her up.

He laid her down on the bed, hovering above her, searching her eyes. “Protection?” he asked very softly.

“Yes,” she told him, taking a deep breath and looking over to her bedside table, “in the drawer.”

He glanced over, too, nodding and then focusing his attention back on her once more, slowly lowering his hand to rest on her thigh. “Good,” he murmured. 

Chloe shifted under him and pulled her legs to either side of him, lifting her hand and cupping his cheek as she searched his eyes.

He held her gaze. “I love you,” he whispered. 

“I love you too,” she said quietly, brushing her nose over his.

Oliver captured her lips with his own once more, looking forward to showing her how much he missed her.

She kissed him back deeply and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him to her as close as possible.

He nibbled on her lower lip, then slowly pulled away from her, sitting up on his knees between her thighs. Holding his breath, he slowly began to slide her nightgown upward, fingers lightly skimming her skin.

Chloe shivered and slid her hands down his back, running her nails lightly against his skin as she brushed her tongue over his bottom lip.

His muscles flexed and tensed beneath her touch and he swallowed hard as he peeled the nightgown off her, revealing her bare body to him. For a long moment, he simply gazed down at her. 

She held her breath and looked up at him, watching him closely. He had always stared at her, it used to make her self-conscious when they were young but... not anymore apparently.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, slowly lowering himself down once more and pressing a kiss to her collarbone. 

“I missed you,” she whispered, closing her eyes as she shivered and lifted her legs, linking them to the back of his.

Oliver held his breath again, looking up at her. “I missed you, too,” he whispered back. “So much.” 

She looked at him and kissed him softly, “me too,” she murmured against his lips.

He cupped her cheek in one hand, slowly deepening the kiss before trailing his lips down her body, kissing her collarbone again, then pressing tender kisses against her breasts.

Chloe shivered again and closed her eyes, brushing her feet over the back of his thighs. 

“Relax,” he murmured, bringing one hand up to tease lightly at her rosy peaks. 

“I am,” she breathed, opening her eyes to look at him, “I trust you.”

He held his breath at that, holding her gaze. “After everything I told you...that means the world to me,” he said honestly.

“I always have, Ollie,” she said quietly, “I thought it might have changed things, but it didn’t.”

“Then I’m even luckier than I thought.” He smiled a little, then dipped his head, kissing her chest lightly, his tongue darting out to taste her skin. 

She smiled and shivered again, sliding her hands down and hooking her fingers on his boxers as she closed her eyes, feeling his warm tongue on her skin.

He kissed his way slowly down her body, sliding her panties down her thighs and off her legs, discarding them somewhere over his shoulder. Then he pressed a kiss to each of her thighs, glancing up at her.

Chloe shuddered and held her breath, opening her eyes and looking at him, her stomach tight as she watched him closely.

Oliver pressed a soft kiss against her mound, massaging her thighs with his hands as he stroked his tongue along her slit. 

“Oh,” she moaned, closing her eyes and sliding her hand into his hair. No one had ever made her feel the way he had, even though he had been only seventeen at the time.

He licked her slowly, teasing her until he felt her tensing even more beneath him. Then he wrapped his lips around her clit and suckled gently, bringing her over the edge. She thrust against his lips, groaning and moaning his name as her body arched over his and her orgasm rolled over her a short moment later.

He lifted his head to gaze at her, watching her slowly come down from the pleasure. “Gorgeous,” he whispered.

“God,” she whispered, taking a deep breath and opening her eyes to look at him, “... you.”

“Me?” He raised his eyebrows playfully.

“Are amazing.” She finished, lifting her head once he moved up her body once again and kissing him deeply.

Oliver smiled against her mouth, then slid his hand lightly down her spine, his fingers brushing her skin with feather-light touches.

She shivered again and wrapped her legs around his waist, “I haven’t felt this way since you.”

“Me either,” he admitted quietly, searching her eyes as he rested his hand against her hip. 

Chloe smiled softly, holding his gaze and kissing him again, quickly this time, “we’re far from done.”

“You can say that again.” He smiled, rolling them so she was on top of him, and he was gazing up at her.

“Have to start making up for the lost time somehow,” she told him, leaning down and kissing him once more.

“I think this is a really awesome way to do it,” he informed her, returning the kiss.

She deepened the kiss and pressed her bare chest to his, their bodies were different, but everything still felt comfortable and familiar when it came to him.

Oliver’s eyes drifted shut and he slowly moved his hands down her body once more, tracing and memorizing every inch of her skin. “I’ve always been yours,” he murmured.

Chloe’s chest tightened and she pulled her head back to look at him, “and I yours,” she whispered, “I’ve always known I would never find someone like you.”

He gazed up at her intently, searching her eyes. “Me too,” he whispered.

She held his gaze and leaned closed, brushing her nose against his, “and I never stopped loving you.”

Oliver held his breath at that. “I never will,” he promised, cupping her cheek in one hand.

Leaning into his touch, she held his gaze and kissed the corner of his mouth softly, her chest tight. He kissed her softly in return, then slowly reached over to her nightstand, fishing a condom from the top drawer. 

Chloe smiled softly and glanced at the drawer before kissing his jaw and neck as she slid down his body a little. He raised his eyebrows as he watched her, his eyes never straying from her. 

She reached for his hand and took the condom from him then smiled softly at him as she reached down to start pushing his boxers down. 

Oliver held his breath as she finished undressing him, smiling back at her.

Chloe held his gaze and smiled back at him, sitting up a moment later and opening the package, holding his gaze before focusing on slowly rolling the condom over him. 

He reached his arms out for her silently, his gaze on her face. 

She held his gaze once she was down and slid back down, laying on top of him once more and holding his gaze, “hi.”

“Hi,” he said softly, sliding his hands up and down her back gently, touching and caressing her skin.

Brushing her nose against his, she adjusted over his body and kissed him softly. 

Oliver slid one hand up and into her hair, gently massaging the back of her neck as he returned the kiss, his eyes drifting shut.

Chloe kissed him deeply but kept the kiss slow, wanting to take her time with him. 

He shifted beneath her slightly, resting his free hand on her hip as they kissed. 

She moved over him, rubbing slowly against him for a moment before reaching for him and positioning herself, still kissing him as she slowly pulled him inside of her.

Oliver held his breath as he slowly slid inside of her, her heat surrounding him and making him shudder involuntarily. 

Moaning quietly, she closed her eyes for a moment, getting used to him, then took a deep breath, opening her eyes to look at him again. 

He held his body in check, his hands moving to grip her hips as he looked up at her. “You okay?” His voice was a little strained. 

“Yes,” she breathed, nodding slightly then starting to move slowly, she had tried over and over again to remember what it felt like to be with him, but none of her memories compared to it. 

Oliver shifted beneath her once more, a soft moan escaping him as she moved atop him. God, he’d missed this. Missed _her_. Missed this closeness, the connection.

She looked down at him, lifting a hand to his face as she moved slowly over him. 

“You are so beautiful,” he told her again as they moved together slowly, not rushing. 

She smiled, brushing her nose against his, “you feel amazing,” she whispered, holding his gaze.

“So do you,” he whispered back, cupping her face in his hands. 

Chloe leaned into his touch, taking a deep breath as she shifted slightly, causing him to move in deeper. “Oh.”

He groaned softly, nipping gently at her lower lip and then soothing it with his tongue. 

She shuddered and turned her head, pressing her mouth to his and kissing him deeply as she started to thrust faster against him.

He gripped her hips once more, meeting her halfway and thrusting into her faster, harder. Without warning, he moved so they were sitting up face to face. 

Chloe moaned loudly at the change in position and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him close as they moved together. 

Oliver gazed into her eyes, intensity there as he thrust into her, his hands sliding up and down her bare back once more. “I _love_ you,” he whispered. 

She took a deep breath as they moved together, sliding her arms under his and pulling him to her even more, “I love _you_ ,” she answered, holding his gaze.

He kissed her softly on the mouth, then rested his forehead against hers.

Chloe kept her eyes on him as they moved, brushing her lips to his once more and shivering as her muscles started to cling more and more to him.

Oliver brushed his nose against hers, returning her kiss even as he slid a hand between them and began stroking her lightly, enjoying the sounds that escaped her. 

Her moans grew louder and her back arched more with each thrust and each stroke, her body tensing just before her release, “Ollie!” she called, holding on to him as her back arched more and she shuddered. 

He watched with rapt attention as she came apart in his arms, then pressed a kiss against her neck as he thrust into her twice more before following her over the edge, shuddering violently as he held her tightly.

She let out a couple of deep breaths then shivered as she turned her head down, pressing her lips to his temple and keeping her eyes closed. 

Oliver rubbed her back gently, then slowly laid back so they were prone on the bed once more, his heart still beating hard in his chest. 

Chloe laid down with him but didn’t let go of him, adjusting over his body and pressing her lips to his neck softly.

He shut his eyes, sliding his hand up and into her hair, combing his fingers through it gently. 

“Even more amazing than I remembered,” she murmured, curling into him. 

He smiled faintly at that. “Just a preview of things to come,” he informed her. 

“Looking forward to every second of it,” she whispered, smiling softly as she lifted her head to look at him.

His smile widened a little as he met her eyes. 

So was he.


	19. Chapter 19

If Chloe had to admit it, she’d say she was actually nervous. The girls had completely disappeared on the two of them for the last couple of days, and they had spent most of their time in bed. 

It had been nice, more than nice actually, it had felt comfortable and just _right_ and she could tell they had both been in love with each other all along. 

But now they were back at the Clocktower, and the girls were supposed to come over so they could all hang out, order some food and watch something of their choice. And of course the girls had figured out what was going on between them, but still, she hoped it wouldn’t make them uncomfortable. 

Oliver wrapped his arms around her from behind, brushing a kiss against the side of her neck. “What’s on your mind?” he asked softly. 

She paused and shivered even as she placed her hands over his arms, “nothing, just... wondering how they are.”

He couldn’t help but grin when she shivered against him. “I’m sure they’re fine,” he told her. 

“I guess at least we know they’re okay with this,” she said quietly, turning her head to look up at him and resting it over his shoulder.

Oliver nodded a little, resting his head against hers. “Since they set it up to start with?” 

“Yeah, well,” she kissed his jaw, “we would have gotten here eventually?”

“Eventually,” he echoed in agreement, shifting closer to her.

“I love you,” she whispered, kissing his jaw and closing her eyes. 

He was fairly sure he was never going to get sick of hearing her say that. “I love you,” he whispered back, kissing her forehead. 

Chloe squeezed his arms softly and took a deep breath, leaning back against him then stilling when she heard the elevator, “guess they’re here.” 

He nodded a little, kissing her temple and drawing in a breath, as well. “Here we go.” 

“We’re here!” Mia announced loudly as she pushed the gates open.

Chloe pulled away from him reluctantly and arched her eyebrows, “we are too,” she called back, looking up at Ollie.

He gave her a wink and lifted his hand in a wave to greet Mia and Alice. 

“Hi,” Alice said, her cheeks a little pink as she looked between them with raised eyebrows and a slight smile. 

Arching her eyebrows, Chloe felt her own face getting warm, “what have you been up to?”

“School,” she said quickly. “And hanging out with Mia.” 

‘We went shopping,” Mia said, lifting the bags in her hands, “with your credit card,” she grinned at Ollie. 

He snorted, shaking his head a little. “Tell me you at least kept yourself fed on that credit card.” 

“We did.” Alice said shyly. 

Chloe smirked a little and shook her head, watching the girls. 

Oliver smiled at her, his expression soft. “Good. Don’t want any of my girls to starve.” 

“Yeah, we are close to starving again, are we ordering food?” Mia asked. 

“That’s the plan,” Chloe said, stepping closer to them.

Alice smiled at her. “We were thinking pizza.” 

“I think I can live with pizza. Chloe?” Oliver raised his eyebrows.

“Always,” She said, smiling up at Alice then up at Ollie. 

“Awesome, I’m gonna drop this stuff in my room,” Mia announced.

He nodded, watching her head down the hallway and then turning back to look at Alice and Chloe once more. “I’ll order the pizzas. What do you guys like on yours?” 

“Pineapple on mine!” Mia called. 

“Meat,” Chloe said, “pepperoni?” 

“I’m...a vegetarian,” Alice admitted, raising her eyebrows. 

Oliver raised his eyebrows as well, amused. “All right, so we’ll get one with lots of meat, one with all veggies, and one with pineapple. Sound good?” 

She smiled, nodding a little and glancing at Chloe. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Chloe smiled at Alice, “you definitely got that from him, by the way.”

Alice’s eyes widened a little in surprise. “You’re a vegetarian, too?” 

He smiled back, nodding. “Yeah, have been for a long time.” 

“He’s the one who always ate healthy,” Chloe said quietly, looking up at him with a soft smile on her lips.

“Kinda have to stay healthy.” He shrugged a little.

“Why?” Alice asked, then paused, “oh for the... night stuff?”

He chewed the inside of his cheek, nodding silently. 

Chloe smiled at that and nodded, “yeah and he’s been doing the superhero stuff way before Green Arrow.”

He blinked and raised his eyebrows at her questioningly. 

“You do remember how we met, right?” Chloe asked, smirking.

“Like I could ever forget that,” he said softly. 

“What happened?” Alice asked curiously, watching the two of them closely. 

“It was Ollie’s first day at Smallville High,” she told Alice, looking at him, her eyes bright, “I was in trouble, as usual, a big jock was pissed at me about some article I was writing and he stepped in and told the guy to walk.”

“She would have been fine,” Oliver informed Alice, shaking his head a little and glancing at Chloe sideways. “But...it was the day we met and I wouldn’t change a thing.” 

Alice grinned softly, nodding as she looked between them, “it’s a nice story.”

He smiled back, then looked at Chloe, meeting her eyes. 

“I agree,” Chloe said quietly, looking back at him. 

Alice chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, “so, you guys are good now, right?” 

He held his breath for a moment, then looked back at their daughter. “Yeah. We’re good.” 

Her chest tightened a little and Chloe nodded, looking back at Alice, “yeah,” she said quietly and smiled, “thanks to you and Mia.”

Mia smirked as she stepped back into the room. “We’re awesome like that.” 

“Yeah, well, can’t argue.” Chloe said, “we will be getting you some pineapple pizza, we decided. But we still need to pick something to watch.”

“Die Hard with a Vengeance,” she said without hesitation. 

Oliver smirked. “She’s on a Bruce Willis kick,” he told Alice and Chloe.

“Huh, old ‘classics’,” Chloe smirked, “honestly, I’m surprised Ollie isn’t insisting on this one version of Robin Hood he loved.”

Mia groaned. “Prince of Thieves?” 

He narrowed his eyes. “Watch it, Kid.” 

Chloe laughed and nodded, grinning at Mia, “brainwashed you too, huh?”

“I’ve never seen it,” Alice admitted.

“See, now we _have_ to watch it.” Oliver brightened. “That’s practically illegal.” 

“No! Alice!” Mia groaned again.

Chloe grinned softly, “how about we watch both?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Alice grinned, moving over to sit on the sofa. 

“I’ll make some popcorn,” Oliver said cheerfully, smirking at Mia. 

“Pizza?” Chloe reminded him, “I’ll order,” she said, starting toward the kitchen counter where she’d left her purse.

“We can have both,” he teased lightly, heading toward the kitchen, as well, his hand moving to rest at the small of her back. 

“Not so healthy now, huh, Queen?” She teased, leaning closer to him.

“I’ll have you know that popcorn is actually one of the healthier snacks out there,” he teased back, dropping a soft kiss against her mouth.

“Hm,” she muttered, kissing him back, “not if you have it the Sullivan way and add a whole stick of butter to it.” She grinned.

He chuckled. “Definitely not. But you can enjoy your meat lover’s pizza.” He wrapped his arms around her.

“I will, and Mia will enjoy hers with pineapple,” Chloe said, making a face, “and you and Alice can split the veggie stuff.”

He grinned, kissing her nose. “I love you.” 

Chloe paused and smiled at that, then nodded softly, “I love you too, Ollie.”

Oliver rested his head against hers for a moment, then looked over to where Mia and Alice were sitting side-by-side on the sofa, deep in conversation, like they’d been best friends for years. 

Chloe shifted and glanced against her shoulder then turned back at him, her chest suddenly a lot warmer, “kind of feels like a family, doesn’t it?” She whispered very quietly.

He smiled softly, meeting her eyes once more. “I think it kind of is.” 

She nodded slightly and brushed her nose against his, her face softening, “a very late start is still a start, right?”

He nodded in agreement, leaning his forehead against hers. 

It definitely was.


End file.
